A:TLA - Conquering One's Destiny
by Khai.Firemaul
Summary: When a young, aspiring fighter from our world finds himself in the world of Avatar, things are bound to happen. From the most innocent to the most insane. Humorous, realistically depicted and somewhat crazy story. Nate signed for none of it. Yet there he is, running around the place he believed to be fiction. Will he manage to survive the war? Ty Lee x OC, maybe Azula x OC. READ IT
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Dreams realized

Nathan was waiting in the dressing room, now fully prepared for what awaited him behind the doors. He was a fighter,from a very young age. Now, he had a chance to make an appearance in a local league. This was not his first fight in the league, but it was the most important. If he wins he will be allowed a place in the nationals, and then maybe the UFC.  
"And here he comes, Nathan Shenlong!"

That was the signal. Nathan got up, and started walking. As he emerged on the way to the octagon shaped cage, the host went on speaking of him. Nate zoned it out,there wasn't much to say, after all. He was just 21 years old, and had been training since the age of 10. Nathan entered the cage, and waited for his oponent, still ignoring the host and his talk. His oponent was a bit older than Nathan was, and had his share of fights in the ring.  
Finally, the gong went off, and the two fighters shortened the distance separating them. Nathan threw the first punch, which was blocked easily by his target. Nate went again, backhanded direct, front hook and right hook. None connected. Good, a boxer. Nate can handle that. The two of them then started to move in circles, searching for an opening as well as throwing some punches or kicks themselves.

It took around half a minute when Nathan recognized a pattern. His opponent always attempted to counter Nathans' third punch with his own. As Nathan realized this, he attacked again with a front kick and followed it with two hooks. Instead of going for the third one, he reacted by slipping to his right. A grin appeared on his face when a fist flew right next to his head, and punched with a right hook on his own. Score! He captured the moment and pressed. Body hook, hook, uppercut. As the man stumbled backwards, trying to regain control of the situation he threw a punch on his own. Nathan ducked, grabbed his legs, lifted a little and threw him to the ground.

The fighter landed and tried to get up,only for his head to be met with a roundhouse kick. Nathan then punched the man once, twice. The gong sounded. Nathan won. He won!

OoOoOoOoOoO  
It was a few hours after the fight when Nathan met up with his friends and his mentor, Jerome. It was quite late. The group met up. Excitement in the air, a ton of congratulating and hugs ensued.

As they were on their way to one of numerous clubs in the city, Jerome appeared next to Nathan.  
"So, looking forward to the league?"  
"You bet" Nathan grinned "What do you think about being the one who taught the next champion?"  
Jerome laughed "NOt bad, I suppose. Too bad I didn't manage myself."

He was right, but it was only bad luck to blame. Jerome used to be a top tier boxer slash wrestler, but he injured his knee badly once and never regained its full flexibility. Jerome sometimes still bragged about how it hurt.

"Blame the fact that you can't bend the fucking knee" Nathan joked, refering to the show they both liked, the Game Of Thrones. The two of them then talked about random stuff. This went on even when they arrived at the club and started drinking. Only the topics changed to the more interesting ones, like-

"So, I do get that you broke up with Jennifer, but that was two months ago. Don't tell me you haven't talked to a girl since then"  
"You know I don' want to talk about that"  
What followed was a while of awkward silence. That is, until the rest of the group joined the two with their drinks. They hadn't been there for more than half an hour, and the majority was already drunk.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The rest of the night - and morning - was mainly the same: drinking, laughing, and doing god knows what else. Not that anyone would remember more than the beginning. Nathan somehow got to his apartment around four in the morning,and simply fell on his bed.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

The first thing I noticed the next - hopefully - morning was the sunlight. Then there was a breeze. And bird noises. I opened my eyes and sat up. I had to be asleep, I thought, well that or I got insanely drunk last night. Why? Simple. I was not on my bed, nor in my room. Also, my body was same as when I was 17 and... I was in the middle of a FRIGGIN' FOREST. There were just two words I had for this: "The fuck?"

**So, here goes the first chapter. What do you think? I reallllly hope you like it. This is a new project of mine, which exists mainly as an outlet for my stress and stuff, since I'm taking my FRIGGIN' FINALS this month. That is also why I'll be updating at random for some time. Anyway, I would be glad for some good advice, some constructive criticism and rewievs as such. Also, two questions: One. Do you want Nate to join the GAang, or do you want him to travel alone? Also, which part of the story should he start in? AAAAAAND a bonus question: What element should he bend and why?**

**Thanks if you read it up till now.**

**Khai**


	2. Chapter 2: Run Forest RUN

Chapter 2: Run Forest RUN

Nathan:

I was sitting on the ground, in the middle of the forest, for around an hour now. I had no clue on how I got there. Also, how I got where? I lived in Detroit, United States, in the city centre. Imagine my surprise when I woke up, hungover, somewhere in the country. I looked around, searching for some tracks. I found nothing. Weird. Then again, who knows what happened last night. I sighed. This was so fucked up on so many levels.

But no use in pitying myself now. I finally got up, and once again looked ad m surroundings. Great. Forest everywhere. I could as well pick a random direction and see where it takes me. And so, I started walking. It didn't take too long for me to get pissed off by the birds and their chirping. With an annoyed expression on my face and ton of cursing on my mind I continued in a steady pace in hope of finding any form of civilisation.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Several hours had passed, and I was still walking. I was starting to lose hope of findng anyone. Ever. Seriously, it didn't even cross my mind that I could've missed something. I continued mindlessly walking, mostly ignorant to my surroundings. With nothing better to do, I started thinking. What was I doing last night? I met up with the others, had a nice chat with Jerome... After that? I'd rather not even guess. At least I didn't bet someone up. If I did, there would be a bruise or two. Or at least sore knuckles. But nothing, no matter how crazy it would be, could noot explain why I was only 17. Yes, I was four years younger than yesterday. How did I know? I checked. No tattoos on my left arm, no scar on my chin, I was thinner. My weight yesterday? 184.6 Ibs of muscle. Now? Just about 150. Don't get me wrong, I still retained most of my strenght. Still, my brain was unable to come up with any kind of explanation, so I let it go.

I was so lost in thoughts, that I didn't even notice the lack of trees around. Until I got surrounded, that is. I stopped in my tracks and took note of the circle of... What are they wearing, is that some sort of armor or something? And why do they look familiar?  
That was not something I should be concerned about at the moment. The soldiers - I guess - were pointing their spears at me. One of them stepped forward and took of his helmet. Probably an officer, I figured. Now that I got a better look at his gear, it was easy to notice the insignia of his rank. Not that it was familiar in any way, but he was an officer.

"You" he shouted "What are you doing here? Earth Kingdom scum!"

"...What?"

"Do NOT PLAY DUMB!" the officer shouted "Either you're a spy, or a worthless idiot"

With these words, this man stabbed his spear in the dirt, and approached.

"This is seriously going to shit" I groaned as the man cracked his knuckles.

The officer attacked first, attempting to punch me in the face. I dodged, and he punched again, only for me to block it. I didn't recognise the style, bu realized one thing: it was similar to the eastern martial arts, namely kung fu or karate. The officer sent roundhouse kick to my ribs, and I blocked it with my leg. He was getting frustrated. Once again, he lunged, his intention clear. I slipped to the side, grabbed is arm by his wrist and punched with my other arm to his ribcage. One, two, three hits. Then I took hold of him with both hands, and smashed my knee in his abdomen. Enjoy the broken ribs, I thought, smirking.

There was one mistake I made, and I didn't realize until it was too late. I heard a yell, and then felt cold something on my leg, followed by dull pain. I let go of the broken man, and check my leg. Lucky me. Just a scratch, Not deep enough to have any impact on my performance. Or on anything, the only thing it would be good for was distraction.

I guessed it, I thought as several soldiers took hold of me and started tying me up. I tried to fight back, and proudly noticed that the had a difficult time. It still was not enough to get free, even though the soldiers will be quite bruised.

OoOoOoOoOoO

I'd spent the next few hours in a cell. At least it felt like hours. Granted, I was bored as hell, but at least they took of the ropes when they threw me in. So, after a while, I started to exercise. I was going through my routine for the second time, when four guards opened my cell and drag me somewhere else. I say drag, but it was more like _MOVE FOR THE FUCKS SAKE_.

I had a lots of time to think in the cell, and it certainly didn't go to waste. The soldiers weren't even trained properly, and their behavior confirmed it. Not only they could not match me in combat, they also behaved quite unprofessionally, spitting insults and being outright jerks. That only pointed to a long lasting war effort. No country would send these guys if they had the time to train them properly. So, the country was either tiny, or the war lasted more than one or two generations. But where in the world would they have such an issue? Not in Europe, nor in America, not even in Asia. Africa was obviously out of question. Well, what is going on? _What the fuck is going on people?_

The four men led me to a small, dark room, which was empty safe for a table, a chair with bindings and another chair. So highclass equipment. They bound me to the chair, and left the room. If not for the fact that I was in mortal danger here, I'd burst out laughing. Why you ask? The soldiers didn't tighten the bindings properly. Not only I had a chance to pull off an escape, the seat was actually quite comfy. Yay!

My excitement, which was mostly an attempt to cheer myself up anyway, didn't last long. Two men entered the room. One of them was completely foreign to me. The other one was the officer from before. He had his arm strapped and most of his upper body bandaged. I chuckled. Oh boy. They closed to the table. As the stranger sat down on a chair on the other side of the table, the injured officer stood behind him, finally allowing himself an expression of pain mixed with hatred. I smiled. And waved. The officer growled in anger, however the one sitting didn't show any emotion whatsoever.

"So, we have established that you are not an everyday peasant." the man sitting started.

I was silent, waiting for him to talk, so he went on:  
"You have been trained, and you have experience from the battlefield. So, there are two options. One: you are a spy. Or two: You are a deserter. Either one is punishable by death."

"But" he smirked "If you tell us what you know, we could sent you to a prison, somewhere in the colonies.."

I thought about what he said. Not that I knew anything. But who would want to die, right? It wouldn't go well to just tell them how I got there. So, which lie to tell them?

"So, you say that I tell you what I know, and you won't execute me? Is that right?" I asked, but it was mainly ment to distract them from what I was doing with my arms.

Those idiot soldiers from before didn't even bother to tie me up properly, so all I had to do was to get my arms free.  
The man confirmed what I asked, and basically repeated what he told me before. By the time he finished his speech, I was free. Just wait for the right moment and...

A soldier barged in the room "Sir, we have another sightings of-" he stopped in the middle of the sentence as a chair hit him. The soldier fell on the ground. The two officers started panicking as i sent the table in their direction with a kick. As all of the people around were occupied, I ran out of the room. As i sped through the complex that the building was, I realized that I didn't know where the entrance was.

"Shit" I started cursing the lack of knowledge as I ran into a soldier.

One, single soldier.

By himself.

_Alone._

Perfect, I thought as a plan formed in my head. Well not exactly a plan, as much as an idea on how not to die. Hopefully. I didn't slow down and simply frontkicked the man in his belly. He fell, gasping. I then hit his head. He fell unconscious. Good. Then, I took his gear, and put it on myself. I left the man lying on the ground and walked out.

As I passed guards, noone even noticed me. I reached the trees. So far so good. As I disappeared in the woods, I praised the god I had never cared about for all the luck I had. After a while, when I felt a bit safer, I decided to ditch the helmet and most of the armor. It would only hinder my movement. I didn't need any extra weight on me anyway. After letting all those things lie under a bush, I decided to at least go a little further. What I didn't really expect was the village I found a few miles away. As I reached the village, I walked into a guy. Quite literally walked into a guy.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Haru:

Today was a good day, I thought, looking back on what happened today. I've helped my mother with cleaning the barn, then repaired that chair someone broke about a week ago. Then, I went out, far from the village. The earthbending forbidden in the village and punished heavily by the Fire nation guards, there was no other place for me to practice. And today, I finally nailed that circling stone move. If there was someone to teach me, I would be close to mastering it now. But there was no point in being all teary about it. I nailed it, by myself! I was all excited, on my way back home, when I hit something, and fell.

It was a guy, and he definitely wasn't local. Tanned, buff, short dark hair, and black pants and a shirt. He looked like someone who had a rough day, and like someone who you shouldn't fuck with. Despite he was only a bit older than me.

"...Shit" he groaned, getting up "Sorry 'bout that"  
He offered a hand, and I took it.

"The name's Nathan"

"I'm Haru. What's with the clothes?"

"Oh, these?" he grinned "A long story. Can tell you if you take me to the village?"

I nodded, and he started talking.  
It was a crazy story, but I still took him to us. He was obviously not Fire Nation, and seemed trustworthy enough. We let him stay at the barn for the night. When the FN soldiers arrived after dawn and told us about the bounty on a guy who broke their lieutenant's ribs, I know we've done well.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Luckily, the soldiers haven't found a thing. I've started to like the guy, even though it was only because he fought against the Fire Nation. The people of the village returned to their homes, and the soldiers went off to other villages. Most likely to alert local Fire Nation garrisons that there is a wanted individual on the run. Poor guy. Well, not that mom would let me go and fight, not after what happened to father, but at least we can give him supplies, and maybe some advice. I personally believe he could use it.

As it turned out, my mother was more accepting of the runaway than I expected. We gave him some clothes so he wouldn't stand up so much. We also offered him a place to stay for some time, so he could recover. He happily accepted the offer, and even helped us out with some heavy work in the course of the week he stayed with us.

OoOoOoOoOoO

This was the day Nathan was supposed to leave. We stood at the main road, Nathan in his - mine - clothes in Earth Kingdom colors. He got some money before, noone knew how, but he bought an ostrich horse. It was standing next to us now. We stood silently, side by side, watching the horizon as the sun rose.

"Well, it's time to hit the road" Nathan said.

"Right" I said in response "I suppose it is."  
To be honest, I got used to his presence. He was like an older brother, in a sense. A pal.

"Don't get killed" I smiled.

Nathan just laughed "Don't get caught"

He offered a hand, again, and I took it.  
He got on the ostrich horse, and rode away, not looking back. I smiled. Both of us were going to keep that promise.

**Hey guys, Khai here! So, here goes another chapter, I hope you like it. And yes, before you ask, this happened a day before the Gaang arrived and met Haru. If there are any questions, suggestions or what-****ing-ever, feel free to tell me in your reviews. Also, the questions still stand!  
Thanks guys :)  
**

**Khai**


	3. Chapter 3: Fiery Fans

Chapter 3: Fiery Fans

Nathan:

I left Haru's village after a week. The boy was kind, friendly and honest, so I wasn't so keen on leaving. But during my time with Haru and his mother I realized why all those things felt so familiar. There was this show I liked as a kid, and absolutely everything here fitted the show. That said, even though I enjoyed my stay in the village, I wasn't really looking forward to meet the main cast. More like I wanted to stay as far away from their path as humanly possible. So with a new mount and some modest supplies I hit the road again. I had no direction in particular, so I didn't bother with a map. I should've probably done that, I thought as I rode in a slow pace on the road. There was nothing to do really, and after a while I begun humming a melody from one of my favorite songs from back home.

I stopped only around the noon, as hunger decided to remind me that I needed to eat. Thankfully I had a week worth of supplies from Haru. With nothing to worry about, I ate my dried meat and drank some water. I didn't pay much attention to anything besides the food, until my mount approached me, and gently tapped on my shoulder with its beak.

"No, you ain't gonna eat that. No." I went on, eating my meat.

And so the bird repeated the process. I stopped munching and looked at it's angry face... beak. It chirped.

"You're not a carnivore, you are supposed to eat grain. So no meat for you."

I got up and gave it some grain, just so it would leave my meat alone. The ostrich horse gave me a sad look and proceeded to devour its grain. Poor bird. I'll get it an apple on our next stop. I finished my meal and decided there was no reason to hurry. So, instead of parting again, I lied down in the grass and watched the sky. The sky, which was the only thing that was the same as home. The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny with a fresh breeze. I couldn't help but fall asleep for a while.

I woke up after an hour or so, and luckily nothing happened during the time. As I got on my feet and started stretching, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to train a bit. And so I got into it, with lots of energy from my nap.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The next few days passed in a very similar manner. I rode, stopped for a lunch, took a nap, after which I trained for a while. Then I rode again. During this time I found out that while ostrich horses weren't primarily carnivorous, they didn't really mind eating some meat if they had a chance. All this time I was lucky enough not to cross paths with any Fire Nation military, and I've sighted the giant fluffy Appa dude only once, and from safe distance - very far away. Not that I had any issue with Aang and company, but they were trouble magnets.

I've just crossed the bridge across a small river with a crossroads ahead. Naturaly, I decided to stop. It had been quite some time I've had a bath or even washed myself. Believe it or not, there are no hygiene facilities nor pools in the wilds here. I took off my clothes, all of it except for the underwear, and jumped in the river. The water was cold. It was not that bad, but I still bolted out on the ground. Nonetheless, I've stayed for a while. The only thing I did was to slack off. It was awesome.

OoOoOoOoOoO

It was when I finally packed my things and was once again ready to leave that trouble found me.

"There he is!" a man voice shouted.

"Don't let him get away!"

I jumped on the ostrich horse, leaving my food supply on the ground, and rushed in the opposite direction. Shit, I didn't expect anyone to be on a hunt for me. I heard more shouting. Then, an arrow barely missed me and hit a tree with a thud. I raced away from the road and into the surrounding forest. But no matter the speed or terrain, the soldiers still kept up. But I would eventually lose them.

I thought I had a chance of getting away with my superior speed. They had counted on it. An arrow finally found it's way in the leg of my mount. The poor thing screeched in pain, stumbled on a root of a tree and fell. Me? I was sent flying. I landed on the ground. Dazed, I got back on my feet just in time. The first of them reached me.

I didn't wait for an opening. Fuck waiting. If I did wait, I'd get surrounded again. I threw a bag with my original clothes on the soldier. He pushed it away, but I was already on him. I grabbed him, and smashed his body in a tree. I then let him fall on the ground. There were two more men around now, one of them swinging his sword at me, the other circling behind me to get a better angle. I ducked under the sword and pushed the wielder away, and spinned around just in time to deflect the spear with my leg. I jumped to the spearman, and beat the shit out of him with a mixup of body punches and hooks. The spearman unconscious, I borrowed his weapon to face the swordsman. He, once again, went on the offensive. I blocked his sword, dodged the second slash and a stab. When he stabbed, he didn't pull his sword back fast enough. I smashed it down, and swung the pointy end of the spear at his throat. The soldier stopped in his tracks, red liquid spraying out of the wound.

The soldier quickly bled out. My attention was already on the next pursuer. This man was unarmed. Easy to get rid of, I thought as i lunged with the spear. I did expect him to deflect it. But when he karate chopped the air above it, and the handle was cut clean with fire I started to fall back in panic.

The firebender had a confident grin on his face as he punched fire at me. I dodged, still moving away from him as he punched again and again, sending one bolt of fire after another. In a desperate attempt I ducked under a firebolt and attacked with the former spear. He yelped in surprise and stumbled back. I tried it again, but this time he was ready to block it. Our onesided duel moved from the deep forest further, until we reached a cliff. I was in fullblown panic fear right now. As I stood with my back to the cliff, my opponent smiled.

"Give up." he said "Give up, boy, before it's too late."

But before I had a chance to give him a _'fuck you'_, something hit his head. My eyes wide in surprise as my once mighty enemy fell to the ground, I looked at the one who probably just saved my life.

OoOoOoOoOoO

It was a girl. A leader of a group of warriors, all of them dressed in green uniforms and with makeup which put even makeup artists to shame. She called herself a 'Suki'. I thought it was some sort of title. As we walked back to where the rest of her unit was, I didn't resist to ask her.

"So... Are there other Sukis from where you come from, or is it a high rank officer title, or-"

"Suki is my name." she stopped me before I said more of that.

"_...oh..._ Well, it's a good name" I tried to repair the damage. So much cringe. Ew.

She laughed. Good, at least she isn't pissed.

"Now that I gave you my name, it would be polite to give me yours... if you aren't ashamed of being saved by a girl, that is." she said in a kind voice, but she made obvious her opinion on sexist people.

"I'm here, I live, and I am unharmed. As long as you don't tie me up, I don't care."

"Good" she smiled "So, tell me again, why did the Fire Nation try to kill you?"

"It's going to sound weird, but long story short, I beat up their commander."

OoOoOoOoOoO

As it turned out, the short version of the story wasn't enough. Even though the Suki did believe me, her men - women actually - were more cautious. So I told them everything from my capture till now. Also, I need to stop thinking of her as of 'the Suki'. Hard one.

When I finished telling them the story, they told me they had bad news for me. My all eating bird friend got an arrow in the neck. I felt sorry for it. He didn't even get to eat that apple I promised him. The Kyoshi were kind enough to offer me to join them. I happily accepted, knowing that if I met more Fire Nation troops, I'd be fucked. My decision had absolutely nothing to do with me travelling with a dozen or so hot teenage girls around my age. Not. At. All.

OoOoOoOoOoO

When the sun set, we called it a day and made our camp. I was used to camping by myself, and so I did most of the work without even realizing that there were more people to do it. The Kyoshi, or the 'Sukis', how I decided to call them, were pleasantly surprised. As we sat around the fireplace, the girls decided it would be them telling a story now. So I was told a story I knew, and two I didn't. I did know of them meeting the Avatar, but not a thing on their two fights with Fire Nation. They won both, and found me during the second.

After the storytime, when most of them went to sleep, the main Suki approached me. She sat right next to me.

"So, Nathan" she begun "Where are you heading?"

"Dunno. Not the Colonies. The Fire Nation prick put a bounty on my head."

Suki giggled "You know, on the Kyoshi Island, we lived peacefully until a while ago. When they nearly burned our village, we decided to help the Avatar, and the people. Maybe you could do the same?"

"Sounds like trouble, and I'm made from war. I killed my first today. I'm sick of it. I don't want to do it."

"You can go to Ba Sing Se then. It is safe there"

"Ba Sing Se? The big city? Not for me. But I suppose there is a lot of people running to safety."

"You could help them" Suki looked at me with hope "Keep them safe."

"Yeah" I nodded.

Both of us smiled.

" 'Tis a long way to Ba Sing Se"

**So, here we go again. Another chapter finished, half of the exams behind me. I suppose I could give you a bit more info on what I plan to do here. I've decided to go with what I've been suggested and give Nate his own adventure. That does not mean that he won't meet any canon characters. Oh, he will meet most of them. He will definitely meet the Gaang soon. And no, he isn't joining them. Not until Book 3. Also, the bending isn't decided yet. Anyway, If you feel like giving some sort of feedback, be it praise, critics or a downright hate, do not hesitate to tell me. This is my first fic, after all, and I would like to make it good, or better if it already is. **

**Thanks for the time as usual, hope you like it.**

**Farewell, Khai.**

**PS: I didn't tell you any of this before, and frankly, I didn't give a damn, but pairings will stay canon, and the only changes there will be are the ones my OC causes. Also, anyone likes the cover pic? :D**


	4. Ambush boy, Sir Bacon and Captain Morgan

Chapter 4: Ambush boy, Arrows, Sir Bacon and Captain Morgan

It was only when sun had already risen in the skies when the camp started to come back to life. Most of the Kyoshi warriors were slowly getting up. While the majority of the camp made effort to pack their things, there was a couple that was still safely asleep...

OoOoOoOoOoO

Suki:

I noticed that my right hand warrior, Sarah, was nowhere around the packing girls. Weird, I thought as I searched the campsite. Sarah wasn't one to sleep in. I was so deep in thoughts that I literally fell over a couple sleeping bodies. Huh? Sarah? What the hell? Sarah was asleep, cuddling to unaware male. Nathan woke up. His eyes snapped open. He tried to get up, only to be held in position by Sarah's arms. Nathan's eyes snapped wide open. When he went to sleep, there was no Sarah around. I know because I was the last one to fall asleep. As usual. Or so I thought, but I'd been obviously wrong. I couldn't help but smile. Nathan was good looking, strong and didn't discriminate. If my best friend over there had to be with a boy, this one would be a good pick. Somehow, he reminded me of Sokka. Both of them, while nonbenders, still fought to their best without hesitation. An idea crossed my mind, if the two boys could be friends, or would end up as rivals...

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

When I woke up, I found the main Suki looking at me, and another 'Suki' cuddling with me. How did I manage not to notice her using me as a plushy all night, I had no idea. After some serious struggle, I managed to free myself from her grasp without waking her up. Then I noticed the Sukis had already packed their - our - things and were waiting just for me and the sleeping 'Suki' to wake up. Wow._ Oh wow_, I thought. A 'Suki' was using me as a plushy, and now the rest of them was giggling when I walked past them. How great.

Lucky us, we haven't met a single Fire Nation patrol as we continued our journey for a week or so. When the time we needed to part ways came, there was a lot of hugs and overall unhappiness going on. I took liking to the Kyoshi warriors, as they did to me. I hope they did. We parted ways and I was on my own again.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I was walking through another forest again. This one had these huge trees. I was well aware of the similarity with the place the main cast met the freedom fighters. Well, I wasn't Fire Nation, so there probably was nothing to be worried about.

Or there was. I found out this one when I went under a particularly large tree. There was a person, standing in the middle of the road. Just like that. Blocking my path. Yes That will totally work.

It was a boy, wearing some ragtag armor, with shaggy brown hair. He had a sly grin on his face, and a wheat in his mouth. Or was it a blunt? Who cares. The only thing abut him I found interesting were the hook swords. That, and the fact that I knew who it was. Jet, the freedom fighter. Jet, the prick.

I didn't stop, instead I reached him in steady pace.

"Move." I said when he stood in my way.

"No." he drew his swords.

"Cut the crap, and move"

"You're surrounded" he grinned. I hate his face.

"Choke on that wheat if you want, it won't change a thing. I'm passing."

Instead of replying, he tried to push me. I didn't move an inch.

"Do it again. I dare you. _I double dare you motherfucker_. _DO! IT! AGAIN!_"

And the boy was stupid enough to oblige. As he leaned towards me, I grabbed his wrist and shirt under his neck, and swung him around before throwing him over myself. Jet landed with a yelp. That was when an arrow hit the ground not even an inch away from my foot.  
As the other freedom fighters appeared in a half circle around us, the leader got on his feet.

"Why attack me, boy? Do I look Fire Nation to you?"

"Noone except for the Fire Nation walks these woods unguarded!" Jet spat at me.

His gang eyed me suspiciously as I walked over to Jet. The boy tried to look threateningly, but I've already beaten him once. His reputation was now damaged, and he would need to act before he looses his position.

"I have an offer" He started "We will duel. If you win, you are free to go. If I win, I take all you have."

"Deal" I said, and I was about to ask about the conditions of the duel, but Jet lunged with his swords at ready. I stepped back, avoiding the blade. Jet came again, swinging his swords at my throat. This was no duel, he wanted me dead. I ducked and pushed the boy away. Jet stumbled backwards, and I rushed over to the freedom fighters. Their looks when I simply took a sword from one of them was priceless. I turned just in time to parry another slash from Jet. We exchanged a number of slashes and parries without leaving our current footing, and then I lunged under one of his swings.

There is one thing to understand about dual wielding. It is supposed to provide better defense and an option to counter attack almost everything. Jet did not counter with the second blade. Not once. And because of that, I managed to push an lead him where I wanted. To a tree. Once again, frustrated Jet swung his blade, and swung the other one while spinning. I evaded the first one, and redirected the other. So Jet's blade connected. And got stuck in the tree.

"Fuck you" I grabbed him once again and smashed him in the tree. The swords left his hands, and I dropped mine a while ago. I spun Jet into the space between the trees again, and proceeded to fuck him up with my fists and legs. Direct, hook, hook, body hook and uppercut. Jet flew a few feet in the air before he landed. He struggled to even get up again, so I let him. I remembered the kickbox sessions with Jerome. You're as good as dead, Jet.

I jumped closer with a front kick which Jet managed to block, a roundhouse kick. That one connected, so I used the momentum, jumped and roundhousekicked him in the head while spinning. There were two 'thums', as both of us landed. Me on my feet, Jet TKO.

"That's what you get, Ambush boy."

OoOoOoOoOoO

In the end, the group let me go. It was nice of them to keep their boss's promise. With that I was on my way again. It took me three days to get to a town. The town was bigger than anything I've seen here so far, but small compared to those back home. The people were not exactly rich, but had enough to afford more than the basics. They were this world's middle class. Of course even this town had it's poor and rich, but those were hard to be seen in public. The town had a port, and quite big market.

I was in rough need for more supplies, so I went shopping. They had almost everything available in this world. I bought some food, a new set of clothes - again Earth Kingdom colors - and was now looking for a weapon. I finally stumbled upon a shop with all kinds of weapons, and proceeded to look through the wares. Axes, hammers, clubs or spears were no good for me. The same could go for the majority of ranged weapons. In the end I left the shop with two small hand crossbows and a handful of bolts. I wouldn't really mind a sword, but for one: they were too expensive, and two: I was good enough without it. And also three: I can easily get one from an enemy. so instead of buying any ort of melee weapon I went to the armor smith, and got a pair of really expensive arm-guards. I was really hoping they were high quality, as they had no decorative stuff on it was likely they were.

I was about to leave the market, when I saw this group of teens running away from a bunch of pissed off pirates. Oh, how great. But then it hit me. I was low on money, and needed to try out my new arm-guards in a fight. This was an oportunity to do both. So, would I capture it? Or would I let it slip?

OoOoOoOoOoO

It was already quite dark when the Fire Nation soldiers and the pirates snuck out of the city, both on their respective vessels. Even though I did have an idea of the Avatar's location, I decided to tail the pirates just in case they were on lookout.

They weren't. They made it obvious enough when they tied up the Gaang. The boy with arrow tattoos tried to comfort the waterbending girl, and then her genius brother had this idea to make their captors fight each other. All this time I was standing a bit away, and noone noticed me. NOONE. Then, the two groups started fighting.

My time had come. I rushed in, quickly taking out one unfortunate pirate, then turning on two Fire Nation soldiers. One attacked with a sword. I parried with my metal bracers. These work. I excitedly stepped forwards, blocking the sword again. I headbutted the soldier, and he fell unconscious. The other soldier went down quickly too.

I was free to act, but instead I observed the combatants. Team Avatar. Yeah, let's ignore them. The scarred teen and an old man... Iroh, right? Good leverage, but no. I remembered liking the guy in the show. The pirate captain... this would end the fight. And a pirate woman, around her twenties. She had some quality gear. Second in command, captain's lover or both. Target one spotted. Then I found another one quickly, the highest ranking FN officer. Sorry bro.

I ran into the fray once again. I avoided clashing with anyone before reaching my targets...

OoOoOoOoOoO

Zuko:

The fight went on, even though the Avatar was leaving. I was pissed. Really, really pissed off. I dodged the captain's attack and kicked him. We were stuck here until we crush the pirates.

"OKAY FUCKERS! STOP!"

The fight immediately stopped, even the captain and me. I looked at the one who caused this, angry. Uncle was more like glad we stopped fighting.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!" I yelled at the stranger.

"A man with whole face, sir Bacon"

"Prince Zuko." Uncle tapped my shoulder before I could burn someone, and pointed at the man.

More likely to what he was holding. He stood there, pointing a crossbow at unconscious soldier, while he kept a pirate woman on the ground with his leg. His other hand pointed at her. With another crossbow.

"UNHAND THE MAN! NOW!" I yelled again.

"Nephew" Iroh spoke up again "It's lieutenant Jee"

My expression darkened, but before I could even say a thing, the pirate captain spoke up in a defeated voice:

"Leave her. I'll give you gold. You know what? I'll give you even more if you side with me"

I was disgusted, but also worried. Even if I didn't admit it now, I still wanted to help people, as a good prince should. Even if it was my weaknes.

"Let Jee go, and I will let you leave" I growled angrily.

"Yeah, I'll do that" He grinned, and shot in my direction. A pained scream sounded right behind me, and a pirate went down. The stranger left his place and started running. Meanwhile I resumed my fight with the captain.

Suddenly, Uncle separated the two of us.

"Are you so busy fighting you cannot see your own ship set sail?" He asked. Another wisdom.

"We have no time for your proverbs, Uncle!" I replied angrily. Seriously, uncle knew how to piss me off.

"This is no proverb." Uncle announced pointing at the ships.

Truly, the pirate ship was leaving with the Avatar on board. And with the stranger, too.

"Bleeding hog-monkeys!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

"Hey Arrows" I waved at Aang once I climbed on board "What did you do to get Cap'n Morgan so fired up?"

**Aaaaand cut! Here goes another chapter, sooner than I thought actually. So, what do you think? There was a lot of stuff happening this time, and a lot of canon characters appeared. I hope I got them right. If you feel like something is amiss, feel free to tell me in your reviews.**

**Also, to clarify a few things. Nathan is not superior in swordsmanship to Jet. The reason Jet lost was because he let his rage get the better of him, and because he underestimated Nathan. On the contrary, Nathan was on defensive for the most of the fight, all the way to that tree.**

**Another one was the assumption that Nathan is a boxer. Well, not only. He was trained in Jiu jitsu, kickbox, box and wrestling. He is no grappler despite having experience in BJJ though.**

**And one last thing. I still haven't decided on the element Nate is going to bend, but now it is a duel between fire and earth. So anyone who has an opinion on this topic, please tell me your opinion. I would be grateful if you gave a reason, too. **

**With all that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Khai**


	5. Ch 5: The Avatar and the Outworlders

Chapter 5: The Avatar and the Outworlders

Katara gasped in surprise as a figure vaulted over the railing. It was a man, a bit older that they were. She couldn't help but stare, and not without a reason. One: his green and brown clothes was all drenched. Two: he was ripped. But the most important thing was that he had a crossbow on his back. So Katara prepared to strike with water. But then the guy just smiled and waved at Aang.

"Hey Arrows, what did you do to get cap'n Morgan so fired up?"

The boy in question turned around and took notice of their company.

"Who's captain Morgan?" he asked, and then cheered up "You mean the pirate?"

"Yep, that's the one" the stranger confirmed.

Katara relaxed. The man didn't seem to be hostile, so there was no harm in friendliness. Katara inhaled, mentally preparing herself to get scolded again. To nobody's surprise, Sokka intervened.

"My dear sister decided to rob them" he accused "Also, who are you?"

Sokka then pointed his club at the man.

"The name's Nathan. And I really don't think this is a good idea."

Sokka hesitantly put the club back, but still eyed Nathan suspiciously. After all, he could be a spy of the Fire Nation. Or even worse, an assassin.

"Hey, I know who you are! You are that guy who distracted Zuko so we could get away!" Aang bolted up.

"Yeah, it worked way better than I expected."

"Why help us? You owe us nothing?" Sokka tried again to everyone's annoyance.

"Should I need a reason? More than a promise to a certain Kyoshi warrior?"

"_WHAT?_" The Gaang yelled in unison.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

We got saved by Appa the fluffy boi, and I told the Avatar and others what happened with me and the Sukis. Katara And Aang listened intently, and both of them were smiling happily when I finished. That, however, was nothing compared to Sokka. The boy was oh so close to squealing in joy when I told him that his crush was safe and sound. As a result, he forgot any suspicions he had about me.

We agreed I would spend the night, and leave in the morning. I was the one who suggested the leaving part. Frankly, I wanted to avoid Jet. The dual wielder was a prick, an asshole and an overall pain in the ass. And with that goal in mind I asked Aang for the directions to the closest village. He happily pointed me towards one, and told me they saved it from an erupting volcano. Right. That would be the one with the fortune teller. My next stop would be so much fun. I was quite excited to see if that auntie was a real deal or not.

OoOoOoOoOoO

I left in the morning after saying goodbye. They were exactly like in the show, but one thing ratted me. They were older. I asked them. Sokka was seventeen, Aang fourteen and Katara sixteen. But I've seen shit more perplexing than that while here, so why care?

Anyway, I've been to that village and spoke with that aunt Wu person, but nothing interesting came of it. Well, nothing, except the words that still didn't let me sleep sometimes. She told me that I was destined to make a change. That I was to see my share of battles and spill my share of blood. I wasn't happy to hear that, but honestly, I was not surprised. What puzzled me was what she said about my love life. Yes,_ my love life_. She said there were three women in my future. I'll get to choose between the two of them, and that choice could either doom me, or make me happy. Well, not that I'd normally care, but she totally guessed I wasn't from this world. That is the very reason I'm all scared about this.

To sum up what happened from my visit at aunt Wu's, I visited a small town, and got my first job as a bodyguard. I was to keep them safe on their way to Ba Sing Se. Luckily, we weren't far away by any means, so the tour didn't take longer than three weeks. Now I was on my slow way to the north pole. This time it was no advice, but a calling of an unknown origin. I was drawn north like a moth is drawn to a flame...

OoOoOoOoO

I noticed the flayers the moment I entered the city. There was a competition going on. The prize was a belt, sick amount of gold, and a nodachi spear. The spear ain't a bad thing, and the gold is exactly what I need, I thought. The truth was that I was all excited over the idea of entering an arena again, and just straight up fight someone hand to hand. After some asking, I found the place, and signed in for the competition. The place itself looked like an antient theatre in Greece, only it had some asian flavour to it. The arena offered lots of space. It's floor was made of stone. Alright, so no falling. When I wanted to see the other competitors, a man stopped me.

"Sorry kid, it is prohibited to see your opponents before the fight starts."

With that, I backed away. I still had about twenty minutes before the actual event started. I was then led to a room, which was some sort of individual preparation space. But there still was a shit load of time before I'd go beat someone to a pulp. I spent most of the prep time just lying on the ground, relaxed. I was in fair number of fights in the cage back home. I've lost only once up till now, and even that one was a loss decided by the point system. Noone went down, we simply ran out of time. I need to make sure that won't happen again, I thought and started warming up.

I went through the whole exercise routine and was lying on the ground again, when a man entered the room. It was the same guy who prevented me from meeting the others.

"Get up youngster. It's your turn."

I nodded and got myself up.

"Hey kid" the older man grinned "Give'em hell!"

With new confidence I walked outside, and on the huge stone circle that was the arena.  
As if in a mirror, my oponent walked in the very same moment. The guy was like five feet eleven, 140 ibs or something like that. He was quite buff, and looked just like one of those asian kung fu movie protagonists. Dude got on stage, and started showing off with some mid air spins and kicks. I, on the other hand, just cracked my knuckles. This was a multi-round tournament. I would fight multiple men during this day, so I needed to preserve the most energy possible.

A sound of a gong with deafening cheers from the huge crowd watching us told me the fight was on. He took a stance and started slowly approaching, ready for my attack. I started simply walking, confident in my ability to beat him. We reached each other, and of course he lacked the patience. He lashed out with a front kick, followed by another one: Both were blocked, and he then tried to hit me with a roundhouse kick. I sidestepped, and blocked his double roundhouse kick next. Then he did a side kick. A powerful move, but easily avoided. It also left him open for a brief moment. I jumped to him right next to his outstretched leg, grabbed his dominant arm and sent him to the ground with a leg sweep.  
I immediately walked away to give him a chance to get up. This was basically me telling him he had no way to win. He understood, and jumped to his feet. Then he lunged at me, going full offensive. Good thing these guys were weaker than the pro fighters back home. This way, I could afford to take a few punches. It took about eight seconds of this before I decided to end this. As he once again attempted to hit my head with a roundhouse, I ducked and went for his leg, performing a perfect one leg takedown. Well, not perfect, I added lifting and smashing him.

The fight was over with me being the winner. The crowds cheered, new bets were placed, people exchanged money. With this, I left for the room once again.

OoOoOoOoOoO

This is how the fights went until the final one. While my opponents did have good technique and some level of skill, none of them emerged victorious. I did. I was waiting for the final fight in the room again. I discarded my shirt some time ago, since I was getting quite overheated. So I stood there, with just my pants. My nervousness started to get to me. Great. But before it could do any damage, I was called to the arena again.

As my opponent and me reached our respective sides of the circle, I noticed that this time there was a background beat. A simple tribal drums, beating in an increasing pace. It stopped when we stood and looked at each other. My immediate reaction was only:

"Fuck no... You've got to be kiddin'."

Ï knew that guy. And by knew I don't mean that I met him somewhere in a town on my travels. I had fought him. Back home, in the Octagon. He was the guy whom I didn't manage to beat.

Although he seemed to be on the same train of thoughts as me, since his expression was one of shock. He obviously recognized me.  
Despite the lack of excitement of the meeting, we were friends. He was supposed to meet up with us the day I had my last fight back home, you know, for the celebration.

The gong rang again. Both of us casually approached each other, until we were just a few feet from each other.

"And here I was wondering when will you show up." he grinned "Hi Nathan."

"Huo" I let myself smile a little "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You don't remember the deal we made? I suppose we've been too drunk at the time, so.."

The crowd started yelling "FIGHT!"

And so, we assumed our stances and started circling each other. He lashed out, I blocked and he jumped back to keep his distance. Therefore my counter went wide. We circled. Huo attacked with a low kick, and then switched legs and went for my head with a roundhouse. I ducked, and lunged with my own attack, a direct punch to his body. Huo sidestepped, and I pursued him. What followed would be Huo on defense, trying to gain some distance, and me mercilessly pursuing him. I finally got him when he punched at my face. I slipped under his arm, stepped behind him, grabbed him and suplexed.

Huo was fast enough to get back on feet before I could pin him down. Now he took the opportunity to attack, and forced me to defend myself from series of punches. I even got to counter some with my own hooks, but Huo ultimately took my footing as he kicked my legs from under me. I fell, and he was about to finish this with an axe kick. Not today. I spun my legs, and swept his in the air. Huo landed next to me and immediately kipped up. I was already up, too, and I lunged again. Huo did react well in time, and was surprised when I hit his torso instead of his hand protecting his chin. Huo gasped and stumbled back. I pressed the advantage, and went on with a mixup of kicks on my own.

With all this giong on, I'd lost any sense of time. The gong rang, and the two of us just sat down on the ground. The referees excused themselves, and took off to decide who, in fact, won the tournament.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"And the winner is... Huo!"

The two of us looked at each other before turning our attention to the referees. One of them walked in the arena to us, and gave Huo his prizes, along with a little speech about how Huo was the best martial artist in the whole region. I sadly noticed there was no prize for the second place. Not even now, when they had to discuss the winner. It pissed me off, but I guess I shouldn't blame them. Neither of us expected a match this close.

With the crowd cheering we left the arena, and met up after a while in the city.

"So, don't tell me you were so drunk you don't even remember?"

"Remember what exactly?" I asked.

The two of us sat on a rooftop of a building we randomly picked. The scenery was beautiful. It would be even better if the city wasn't allarmed by the huge fleet far on the horizon.

"So, I managed to find you around one and half in the morning. You do remember that one, do you?"

"Uhhhhh nope?" I gave my friend a nervous smile.

"Well that's so fucked up. I suppose it is up to me to tell you. So, we met up. You were all excited that you won. That ain't that important. So, fast forward an hour, we were already dancing and doing crazy stuff. So you went outside to get some fresh air, and I followed. And then we met this latina hottie... Still nothing?"

"We met a hottie?"

"Yeah, quite a lot of them actually - is that the only thing you care about?"

"Sorry dude, go on."

"So, she asked us for help. And told us she can give us a shit load of money in exchange. It was pretty weird, looking back..."

But I wasn't able to hear him anymore. I finally remembered. It was still quite fuzzy, but well.

_Flashback:_

It was night, in a small narrow street. Right before me stood a woman. Tanned, long brown hair, beautiful face with these golden eyes. And perfect body. Did I mention her body? She said something, but I couldn't make out what. Then, I heard my own muffled voice say something, and she giggled. Then she leaned in, and kissed me. Oh my god! She kissed me! _Why did she kiss me!_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Hey! Nate! You alive?" Huo asked, seemingly worried.

"Yeah."

"So, what do you think about promising to fight for her in exchange for a kiss?"

I stared at him in shock. _What the fuck happened that night?_

**And cut! Here goes another one! I'm sorry for the confusion, but I needed to exclude most of the Book One episodes, since there is nothing interesting that could happen. Maybe except for the fortune teller, but that one is not of much importance and can be easily summed up later in form of a flashback.**

**Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and again please do not hesitate and write me your opinion!**

**Also, the bending question is still on, so anyone who wants Nathan to bend certain element can write me, and I will decide based on what you tell me.**

**Thanks again,**

**Khai**


	6. Chapter 6: Shipping time!

Chapter 6: Shipping time!

The morning sun found the coast nearby the city of Kutian occupied by two individuals in dire need of a way north. The two men were fighters who were headed straight for the Northern Water Tribe. To get there, however, they would need to find a captain who would ferry them. That was really unlikely considering the Fire navy in the town's port.  
A few miles to the sea was one such a ship. It's captain would gladly help out anyone who paid enough gold. This, however, wouldn't be the case. The captain was tailing certain man who caused him some trouble before. The very same man who used his second in command as a leverage to interrupt the fight, and help the captain's prey get away. But this time, it would be different.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

Huo and me were standing on the coast next to the city where we fought the day before. None of us wanted to say it or even admit it, but we both knew that this was insane. How was the North pole going to survive this invasion? There were Fire Nation warships, six of them, just in the town's port. Then, there was this huge number of the same looking warships covering most of the surrounding sea. How are we supposed to get to the North pole now?

We agreed there was no use in overthinking it, and parted for the town. As we had nothing better to do on our way back, we started talking.

"So, are you a bender?"

"What? No, I'm not."

"I was expecting you to be. This is a surprise. I'm an Earthbender, you know."

I was shocked. So, this guy gets to live and train in peace, gets a new belt, tons of gold and earthbending? No wonder I was fighting for my life the entire time, the universe had to balance his luck somewhere.

"You are? Wow. That's great."

"You jealous?"

"No."

"Yeah, you are jealous." Huo grinned.

"Stop it dude."

"Sure, sure, yeah. No problem." He rose his hands in defense.

As we reached the port, Huo noticed a ship which was not Fire Nation. Maybe we could use this one. We walked to the ship. A man, pirate by his looks, stopped us before entering.

"What do you want?" he said. I found him familiar, but couldn't quite place him.

"We need a ship. And we have gold." I said, and the pirate rushed inside the ship.

Once we were alone, I asked:

"So, you think they take us north?"

"I doubt that." Huo said while looking somewhere behind me.

I turned to see what it was. It was a bird. Not an ordinary one but a parrot. The parrot who belonged to captain Morgan. Well shit.

OoOoOoOoO

A crewman ran into the captain's cabin, only to find his boss flirting with the woman, Mira. The two of them stopped in the middle of what they were doing before he so rudely barged in.

"What?" the captain was totally pissed.

"There are two men who want us to take them somewhere. They said they have money."

"Everybody says they have money when they need help. If that is all, then fuck off." Mira barked at the poor crewsman.

"B-but sir, I think you should at least see them. It is the guy who called you Morgan."

"DID I NOT TELL YOU NOT TO SPEAK OF IT NEVER EVER AGAIN!" the captain yelled, now officially feeling like murder.

"If it really is him, I will make him bleed." the captain announced after he calmed down. A bit.

OoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

We were standing next to the ship's entrance for quite some time, when the same pirate who went to talk to their boss returned and told us to come with him. The captain will see us, he said. It was likely a trap, but then again we had no other way to get to our destination. We followed the man to the deck, where we were welcomed by a good number of armed, dirty pirates. They haven't taken a shower in... duh... their entire lives? Pretty sick, if you ask me. Then I took note of the two faces I recognized. I smiled and waved.

"Hey cap'n Morgan, how you doin'?" I imitated Joey from the Friends.

Huo snickered as I said that.

"MY NAME IS NOT MORGAN!"

"Hey Morgan, you got some rum?"

"NO I-"

"Then why's the rum gone?"

The two of us started laughing our asses off. The captain went fuming, and he drew his rapier. He took two steps, then changed his decision about the next course of action.

"Take them to the cells!" he ordered.

I tried to stop laughing while they dragged me to my cell.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Huo and me ended up in the neighbor cells, which meant we could at least talk to our guard's anger. We did pick on him for some quality time, but he knew better than to enter our cells. But it was not so amusing after an hour. I started humming the theme song of Pirates of Caribean, and Huo joined me out of desperation. And that was the exact moment the captain's gurl choose to enter.

She came into the room and stopped before our cells, commanding the guard to "Fuck off" before she "Chops his dick off". The poor man gladly left his post. The woman then looked at each one of us, before sitting down.

"So... You are the one who used me." she said to me.

"You did WHAT?"

"PUT SOME CONTEXT IN THERE!"

"...as a distraction so the Avatar got away." she hesitantly finished.

"Oh. Figures." Huo shrugged with a smooth grin.

"So, you want something? Like information, you want us to work here, or do you want someone to please yo-"

"What? No! I want help."

"Help? Yeah sure. Just gimme a sec." I said, stood up, grabbed the bars and shook them "Not moving."

"That doesn't seem to work." Huo stated with a hint of sarcasm.

I made the 'you don't say' face in response. The girl, however, seemed to have enough of our shit, and yelled:

"IF YOU WONT STOP THIS SHIT I WILL GUT YOU!"

We went silent.

"Look, I'm in a bad position here. That pig won't stop harrassing me, and I've had enough. If you help me overthrow him, I can take you where you want. Deal?"

"Sounds better than rotting in a cell. On this note, how do we get out?"

She handed us a key. A FUCKING KEY.

"Sure, that works too."

"Tonight we take over the ship. I already do have a part of the crew on my side, but we still need to take out the captain and his bodyguard, the Minion."

"The Minion? Who is that?"

"You will see..."

OoOoOoOoOoO

In the end we never found out. The dawn came, and the ship silently drifted off to sleep. We, on the other hand just opened our cells and walked all the way up to the deck. There we met with our ally and her small group of her loyal pirates. They handed us our things. I put my trusty metal bracers on and grinned. This day turned up better than expected. We were about to storm the captain in his cabin when we heard a yell from the lookout.

"Fire Nation! Brace for impact!"

We did as he said. That was good, because just a moment after a huge metal ship crashed into the ours. I was lucky enough to keep a hold of some rope, but a few others flew past me and into the water. Shit. I got back up, and checked the surroundings.  
The ship wasn't damaged that badly, but the main problem - two of them now - were the soldiers jumping on the deck, and captain Morgan leaving his cabin, but only for him to be cut down by the first man that reached him. But I had to take care of myself now. It seemed that two of the ambushers made me their target. I blocked a sword of one of them, grabbed him and threw him overboard. The other one lunged, and I easily evaded it. He attacked again, only for his sword to get stuck in his own ally. I made quick work of him, and noticed Huo with his spear nearby. Huo was spinning his spear, slashing and stabbing in a distinctive Kung-fu style. Good for him. But I needed to find the girl, and make a new plan.

She was already on it, though.

"ON THE SHIP! ON THE FIRE NATION SHIP!"

Good, that works too. I attacked a soldier that stood in my way with a body hook, grabbed his arm and broke it. He cried out in pain, and I gave him the merciful treatment. I kicked him out, took his sword and came running in the direction of the FN ship. Another one crossed my path. I deflected his attack and swung my sword back in reverse. The man fell with his throat cut open, and I started climbing on the metal ship.

I reached the railing and vaulted over, landing in a roll. As i sprung up from the roll, I held the sword out and successfully stabbed a soldier in the chest. I pushed him off of my blade. The whole deck where I was standing was now flooded with the pirates - allies. The Fire Nation captain walked out with the rest of his crew, their hands high up in the air.

"We surrender" he announced, looking down in defeat.

We had a ship.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Fast forward a few days our new ship was certainly in the polar region. Mira, the girl that made that deal with us, became sort of our friend. As we found out, she was twenty years old, and came from a poor family in the Earth Kingdom. She joined the EK navy, but her ship got ambushed and to ensure her survival, she joined her captors. Now, she was their leader. Funny how some things turn out. What happened to the captive Fire Nation soldiers? They received the honor of being Huo's and mine new punching bags for the time being. We somehow managed to put some distance between us and the Fire navy. So, there will be some time between our arrival to the Northern Water Tribe. That means that we will spend some time with the main cast, since I'm curious about the bending abilities. While I didn't bend a thing until now, I haven't really tried yet.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaito was a young waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe. He was a good warrior, a skilled waterbender and a student of master Paku. Today, he was on his patrol duty. It was boring as hell. That is, until he spotted that big fluffy bison... thing flying in the air. Like seriously, what the hell? As it turned out, it was the Avatar and his companions. They were brought to the city of ice by some of Kaito's friends. Kaito thought that he got his daily amount of excitement and he would spend the resto of his patrol bored.

Nope! As they once again steered their little boat between the icebergs, they found a small metal lifeboat. Metal? That is Fire Nation! Kaito and the men approached carefully, but were surprised to find two guys in their late teens in green clothes.  
"Sup?" The taller one grinned at the water tribe men, and stood straight.

**And cut! So how do you like the shipping in my fic? Is it well written, quality ships? I hope so :D  
Anyway, I hope you like it, this chapter was hell to write, since I had no idea whatsoever how to make the pirates work. Also I didn't want CaPTaIn MOrGaN to die, but well...**

**Doesn't matter, I guess. The question about Nathan and bending still stands, so go on an talk to me. Or talk to me about the fic in general. OR JUST TALK TO ME GUYS. I suffer quite a lot from the lack of feedback considering the number of people who actually read this you don't tell me I will never know what you want me to change or write.**

**A perfect example would be the one guy who asked for Zutara, and when I asked for details he pointed some usefull stuff out. Now, I'm working on how to include Zutara and not change the story so much. **

**So anything you want to see, I will consider. If it si reasonable :D**

**So, enjoy the chapter.**

**Khai**


	7. Chapter 7: The Northern Water Tribe

Chapter 7: The Northern Water Tribe

Kaito and his fellow patrollers entered the capital of the Water Tribe with their two captives. It wasn't even noon and they already met the avatar, and now these two Earth Kingdom travelers. Well, they said they were travelers, but Kaito didn't trust them. Neither did the rest of the men.  
They reached the docks and the men jumped out of the gondola, bringing the captives with them. Their leader, Ikken, decided to take the two directly to the chief. The captives remained unfazed, probably because they had no idea that the chief would probably order their death.  
As they reached the palace, where was seated the town council and where the chief and his family lived, Kaito was called off by one of his fellow Pakku's students. Kaito was surprised, but followed nonetheless.  
As they reached their dojo, which was more of a town square than a gym of any sort. The students were greeted by Pakku, their master, and two other accomplished waterbenders by his sides.

"Here you are." Pakku nodded sternly "Why am I not surprised you are late."

"Late for what?" Kaito asked, puzzled by his master's question.

"Today, I deemed you and two others ready. From now on, you are masters by your own right."

Oh. That was clearly unexpected. Even yesterday Pakku berated him for every single imperfection, yelling he'd never become a master. Then again, Pakku was an old, rude and stubborn man with the weirdest sense of humor. This is what he did to every single one of his students he deemed good enough.

"Kneel." Pakku ordered, and the soon to be masters obliged.

"The three of you have mastered the ability to adapt, the lore and skills of our people, and proven yourself worthy of such privilege as I Pakku, am about to give you. For this, I give you, Renna, the mark of the Bear. Stand strong and proud, protect our people."

Pakku kneeled in front of the man, and painted a mark on his forehead.

"I give you, Kuai, the mark of the wolf. Be fast as wind, and do not let yourself be stopped."

Pakku kneeled before the other student, and painted his mark.

"And I give you, Kaito, the mark of an eagle. Protect the arts of the ice folk, and strike down those who oppose your people."

At last, Pakku painted Kaito's eagle mark, officially making him his successor for when he retires.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"So, the two of you arrived in a Fire Nation safeboat, with a bag of supplies, a dagger and a spear, and you say you aren't spies." chief Arnook stated, looking at the two young men in suspicion.

"Yeah, exactly." said one of them, ignorant of any form of etiquette.

"How do we know you aren't lying?" the chief continued.

"Do you want a list or will one reason suffice?" the other one asked ironically.

"The list would be better, but sadly, we cannot be sure you would tell the truth."

The interrogated men looked at each other, obviously not liking where it was going.

"I will give you a try. One singe chance. If I feel like you lie, you go to the ice cells. Understood?" the chief sighted. Why did they have to arrive today...

The two nodded and Arnook allowed himself a small tired smile.

"So, what are your names?" he begun with the simple things.

"I'm Nathan, and this idiot next to me is Huo." said one.

"Hey boss." Huo eyed his companion angrily before sighing.

"Good. I am Arnook, the chief of the Northern Water Tribe." Arnook said.

The chief then clapped his hands, and the doors to the hall they were in opened. Through them came a number of men.

"And these are the honorable men of the Tribe. This is master Pakku, to his left is Ikken, the head warrior. The next is Yugoda, our master Healer, this is Kaito, master Pakku's successor. And this is Hahn."

The boy called Hahn gave them a sly grin when Arnook finished:

"The one who will marry my daughter."  
Dead silence took over the hall, as many of the present didn't agree with the arranged marriage between the princess and Hahn. Still, noone voiced it.

"And here she comes! My daughter, these two were caught sneaking their way to our city."

Yue looked at Nathan with suspicion. But a look of pure surprise took it's place when her companion, Sokka, called out:

"Nathan? What the hell are you doing here?"

Silence once again plagued the hall, until Hahn decided to break it.

"Oh, Sookha, you know these two?"

"It's Sokka..." Sokka stated, annoyed by Hahn and his prickiness.

With Sokka joining the game their chances looked just fine. That is, until Huo didn't resist asking why was such an idiot marrying the princess. Yep, shit went real.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"So, excuse me, but for what fucking reason is this Hahn retard marrying the princess?"

"What you little rat, I could beat you up with my hands tied up!" Hahn retorted.

"Yeah, you totally could. I doubt that."

"Hahn is the strongest warrior in his entire generation, and as such is perfect fit for the princess." interrupted the chief before Hahn decided he wanted to kill Huo.

"Yeah" Hahn boasted "I could handle the two of you at once!"

"Enough! Kaito, Ikken, could you take the two of them to the cells, we will resume this talk later."

The men obeyed the chief's orders and led the captives away. They locked them in a cell made of ice, a few blocks away from the pallace. There they would wait until chief Arnook sends for them again.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

I was in a cell again. The worse part was that I was getting used to it. I mean, I've gotten captured like three, four times now?

"This needs to stop." I stated.

"What does?"

"Us getting captured."

"It happened before to you?" Huo was curious, so I'd tell him.

"Yeah, this is the third time, I think."

"You think? That's sad bro." Huo laughed, and I did too.

"I've been around for a few years, and I didn't get in a cell before we met."

"Wow, jealous." I looked partly pissed and part amused.

"Yep" Huo was smiling brightly in response.

"So, what have you been doing before?"

"I" Huo cleared his throat. Drama matters man "Was wandering all across the Earth Kingdom. I made money through martial arts competitions, and beat up some Fire dipshits along the way."

"That's nice. So, how did you call yourself for the fights?"

Huo grinned, and took of his pendant. It was a small circle made of greed gemstone. Perfect, detailed visage of a chinese dragon. It looked more like it was an actual dragon curled up around the string.

"Where did you get it?" I asked, curious. It was truly a masterpiece.

"Him, not it. I call him Soulie."

"Soulie?" I laughed, and noticed a small hint of movement on the pendant. But that would be impossible.

"Yeah. It's jade." He waited for me to get something.

And I didn't for quite a while. Then it came to me.

"You're kidding, right? You are the Jade Dragon?"

Huo nodded, smiling.

What we didn't know was that we were being eavesdropped. A person in a blue pakra and a cape went running from behind the corner and soon disappeared in the streets.

OoOoOoOoO

Arnook didn't know what to do. When he sent Kaito to listen and gather some intel on the two strangers, he didn't expect to see him so soon. He was much less excited from the fact that he had the Jade Dragon jailed in his city. The Jade Dragon was not only a victor of countless tournaments in the EK, he was also a symbol of freedom, because of his history with the Fire Nation. The martial artist clashed with the Fire Army several times, and always either emerged victorious, or managed to get away. Now, he had chained a man who was most likely the famed hero. Troublesome. To make it even worse, Hahn mocked the Jade Dragon right before his own eyes. Stupid boy. That Huo guy was now in a rightful position to challenge Hahn, as was anyone who had his honor insulted.

Arnook was on this train of thoughts when the young Avatar decided to show up, followed by Sokka and his sister.

"Hello, chief Arnook." the airbender cheered up "Sokka said that a friend of ours arrived. Can we meet him?"

Chief looked at them. Why did there have to be so much trouble.

"Yes. Men! Bring the prisoners here!" Arnook ordered.

The kids reacted differently. While Sokka wasn't surprised, Aang was shocked and Katara went from excited to angry as hell.

"You mean what? You chained them?" she yelled, not caring for any sort of manners.

"Yes. They are suspected of being spies for the Fire Nation."

"They are no spies!" Sokka entered the argument.

"Yeah, Nathan saved us!" Aang added.

"That could've been jus an act." Arnook countered, but it didn't stop them,

Sokka pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to the chief.

It was a wanted poster, with a clear portrait of that Nathan guy, just with shorter hair. Lower on the poster was text. Arnook read it aloud:

"The Brawler, wanted for trespassing, resisting arrest, injuring six soldiers, an escape attempt, injuring a high ranking officer and other crimes against the superior Nation. Travels alone, is suspected of theft. The bounty is five hundred and twenty gold pieces."

The room was silent once again as Arnook handed the poster back to Sokka. The doors opened one more time, this time allowing Nathan, Huo and their escort to enter.

"I am sorry for the treatment you endured." the chief went formally "From now on, you are free to go where ever you want, and do all you want as long as you won't do any wrongdoings. We are honored to meet the Jade Dragon and a friend of the Avatar."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

The sudden excuse shocked me as well as my pal. We looked at each other, and then thanked the chief, not believing what just happened. Then I was promptly rid of any air in my lungs as Aang hugged me with surprising force.  
"

It's good to see you again." the Avatar said with a warm smile.

"A-ang. Need-air." I gasped for air.

The boy let go and I inhaled deeply, enjoying my breathing to the fullest. Then I greeted the rest of the Gaang, and presented them to Huo. They weren't as friendly to him, and mostly kept to handshakes.

"Guess you are the reason we're free to move. Thanks Arrows."

"That is what friends are for, right?" he smiled and moved his attention elsewhere. He was hyper. I laughed as he ran off.

"Also, you are welcome to join the celebration in the evening." the chief told us when we were leaving for our accommodation. We were offered some thanks to us being their guests. Guess that's one of the better things of being friends with the avatar.

"Sure think. And thank you, chief." We slightly bowed before leaving.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaito:

I was standing atop of the city wall, lost in thoughts. I was smitten by the girl travelling with the avatar. Her name was Katara. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. In the water tribes, one became an adult after reaching the age of sixteen. I was adult for a year now. A year I could've been already married. There was a good number of women who would gladly accept a necklace I would make. I've known that I need to eventually settle down, but none of the women here didn't manage to make me fall for her. Well, this was a lie. The only one was the princess herself, but I am a son of a fisherman. Waterbending prodigy or not, the princess was out of my league. So, I ignored the feelings until they passed, and only the sadness stayed.  
And so, I trained. I trained every single day to become the best waterbender in the tribe. Today, I became the first man to become a master before his nineteen, and the usual age of fresh masters was around twenty two. I was Pakku's star student, and the chief and princess both knew that. But the princess still didn't like me. What did I ever do wrong? But even if she did love me, I was too late. She was already promised to that Hahn prick. Yes, he was considered to be our best warrior and the most handsome man in the whole tribe, but ugghhh. I so hate that guy. And the worst part? Yue doesn't even like him!

But I got over her, and lived my life for myself only. But today, I met Katara. She was cute, fierce and the best of it - she made me forget all my worries. I tried to resist it at first, but now, while watching the sun leave behind the horizon, I understood I've fallen for her.

"What do I do... What do I do?" I asked myself, thinking aloud.

"What happened?" Asked a voice of Kuai, my lifelong friend.

"I don't know." I said, not wanting to admit it to anyone.

"Then why is your face all red?" Kuai snickered, and I started panicking.

"W-what? I'M not r-red. WhywouldIbered? I'mnotred!"

"Kaito." my friend stated "Calm down. Easy. Now you can tell me what is going on."

And something broke in me. I told him. I told him everything. He didn't interrupt me or make fun of me. He just listened as I babled about the girl I had crush on. He only spoke when I finished.

"You can ask her out tonight." He suggested.

I wanted to argue that I would never succeed with my awkwardness, but Kuai didn't let me yet.

"Tonight we celebrate, right? So dance with her, talk for a bit. She won't refuse, you aren't that ugly."

I laughed at that. I wasn't, at least I was told that.

"And after the night is over, ask her out."

OoOoOoOoO

Yue:

I didn't go out to the city often. It felt so good to be out on a date with a boy. I was accompanied by Sokka. His eyes were on me more often than not, and I found him quite handsome, too. As we walked down to the main square, we noticed some commotion.

"... That scumbag wouldn't even know what hit him!"

It was Hahn. He was bragging about his strength and skill, as usual. I really didn't understand what father saw in him. We approached, and the bragging went on.

We entered the square. In the middle stood Hahn, with his sword on his back. There was two dozen or so people around him, listening intently to his speech.

Sokka tapped on my shoulder and pointed to the side of the square. I recognized the two men father imprisoned. They went straight for the crowd. I wanted to leave and go for my farther, or even Pakku. Sokka stopped me.

"Wait, let's stay and see what happens." Sokka grinned happily.

I couldn't tell him no, so I stood beside him and watched.

OoOoOoOoO

Huo:

We had nothing to do in the moment, so we proceeded to explore the foreign city. Nathan once called it a glorified iceberg, which was technically true. As we walked down the stairs leading to the main square, we spotted a crowd. We went in that direction, and soon we found out what was going on. It was that wannabe warrior prick who would one day marry the princess. I had some small talk with Sokka, who seemed to like her. I would even go so far to say he loved her, and she returned the feelings. I was in two minds about challenging that Hahn idiot to duel me.

"That scumbag wouldn't even know what hit him! I am the best warrior in the North Pole, and I am way better than even the Jade Dragon!"

His bragging sealed his fate. We made our way through the crowd.

"Hey!" I called out to him "You said something about us?"

"You! Why are you outside your cell? I demand explanation!"

"I demand you to _shut the fuck up_." Nathan growled, and approached Hahn threateningly.

I put my hand on his shoulder "Don't."

He looked at me in disbelief. Hahn, on the other side, started provoking.

"See? He's a cowa-"

"_He's mine._" I announced for everyone to hear.

"You insult me with no reason. I challenge you to a duel."

Hahn put on an arrogant smile as I said that.

"I accept. Be sure to clean your blood after I'm finished with you." Hahn gave me the sly smile.

Hahn drew his sword, and took a stance. Not bad, but it was still easy to see the mistakes. I took my spear, and stabbed it in the ice. I didn't need it. Not against him.

Hahn shrugged off confusion and attacked with a wide swing of his sword. I just leaned to the side, and it missed by a good distance. He swung wildly again and I ducked. The blade flew harmlessly above me. He continued with yet another swing. I sidestepped, and lunged. I hit him with my palm and pushed him a few feet back. Hahn let out an angry shout and charged. I evaded him yet again and took his footing with a leg sweep. Hahn landed on his sorry ass.

He still didn't give up, not even after the display of superiority I showed him. He crawled back on his feet, and assumed what was supposed to be defensive stance. If he wants to defend himself, then I'll give him a chance. I lunged to his legs. He swung his sword at me. I jumped, flipped in the air and axe kicked him in his head. Hahn fell down, dazed and sluggish.

"Do not pick on me again. You are no match for any of us." I spat on him.

Then, we left, not aware of the princess, or the chief who were watching the whole show.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The celebrations begun with the chief giving a speech. It was the same old stuff the Gaang had to go through every time they entered a bigger settlement. I didn't manage to pay attention soon and started drifting off. The only important thing on the whole speech was that while it was a celebration of the Avatar's arrival, it was also the princess's birthday, so they would be holding a party either way.

We were seated as it was decided beforehand. The princess to the chief's left, Pakku to his right. Next to Pakku sat the important peopl of the tribe, and next to the princess sat Sokka, and us in a row next to him. The food was traditional water tribe, which was something I've never had before. Neither has Huo. Both of us begun to eat with so much excitement, only to be unpleasantly surprised by the meal called Stewed Sea Prunes. Straight and simply, we felt like throwing up. On the other hand, they had some good drinks. They called it ale, but it was no beer. But at least it was similar.

After that there was a performance by master Pakku and his students. A man going by the name of Kaito had a special role during the show, as he did the best looking stuff. Sokka said that he was newly appointed as a master waterbender, and that he didn't like Hahn. Immediately, I felt more sympathy towards Kaito.

The show ended, and what followed could be described in two ways. It was either the best, or the worst part of the whole event. It was music. Don't get me wrong, the music was good. The part I found quite awkward was dancing. Yes, dancing. Sokka and Yue were among the first to go for it, and soon the whole hall was full of dancing couples. I had nothing to do, since I didn't know a person here and Huo was occupied by his fangirls. The teenage girls heard of what happened with Hahn, and there was this rumor about Huo being the Jade Dragon. The girls put the pieces together and now swarmed upon the poor guy. Even Katara got asked out. It was the Kaito guy who took her to dance, and she accepted with a tomato colored face. When she came back later, she looked sad for some reason. I figured it wouldn't help to ask her.

Even though I didn't dance at all, I still came back to my room late. Or more exactly early in the morning. I was bored enough to start a conversation with a bunch of guys, and we got totally wasted. Their names were Renna and Kuai, and they were fun to talk to. We exchanged some hilarious stories, and drunk a lot.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaito:

"Ummm... Do you wanna dance?" I asked Katara when the music began.  
There were already people dancing, laughing and drinking, but I couldn't even think about anything other then how I am going to tell her. I was so stressed that I didn't touch my ale, and my friends who normally ignore this kind of mood noticed and tried to cheer me up.  
It didn't help.

"Sure!" Katara perked up, smiling.

I offered her a hand, and she took her. I led her to the dance floor, my face red. The only thought in my head now was 'don't think about in don't think about it don't think abo- OHMYGODWE'REHOLDINGHANDS'. I needed to stop this train before it crashed. We stopped, I took her hand and put the other one around her waist and started to dance. The music was slow and I found myself enjoying it even despite the nervousness.  
We then danced for quite some while, and talked a little. She told me about her adventures with the Avatar. I felt jealous. Then she asked about my studies under Pakku, and I told her everything. I even encouraged her to try and persuade him to teach her. It wouldn't work, but I couldn't help it but to feel for her.

In the end, I gathered my courage and asked her.

"Yeah, so, umm... Katara. Do you wanna meet up tomorrow an go somewhere? You know... as a date?"

Katara stared at me as if she didn't believe what I said.

"I-I'm sorry, I really am. But I just don't feel that way about you. Maybe after some time..."

So there I was now, in my house, sitting on m bed with a nearly finished betrothal necklace in one hand and a bottle of strong ale in the other.  
_Crying._

**_AAAAAAND CUT!_ So, how do you like the story so far? What do you think about this chapter? I did a big reveal in this one and don't worry, it is important. Also I hope you don't mind Huo beat up Hahn. I honestly hate his guts, but at least he fits in nicely. Also I hope you liked the ceremony with Kaito, I believe I did a good job so you better should.**

**The bending question I've been asking you for oh so long is already solved, so no reason to tell me what you think Nate should bend anymore.  
If there is anything you want to tell me, please do so in your reviews or even PM.  
**

**Thanks as always.**

**Khai**


	8. Chapter 8 preview: Black Serpent

Ch 8 Preview: The Black Serpent

Yue certainly enjoyed the party. It was her birthday, and she was finally an adult. That also meant that she would have to address certain issues, such as her betrothal to Hahn and her feelings to Sokka. But all that would have to wait. This was her party, hers and the Avatar's. And unofficially the Dragon's, too. Yue was now still sitting in her place, chatting with Sokka and watching the performance of the waterbending students. It was something she was unable to comprehend, the beauty of the young men dancing with their own element, spinning and jumping to the tune of traditional music. Yue couldn't help but envy the waterbenders their abilities. Oh how she would like to be a waterbender. Sokka felt the very same way about his sister's bending. Not that he would admit it.

"Is something troubling you?" Yue asked Sokka as he went silent for a few moments, frowning.

"It's just those waterbenders." Sokka sighted "Just how am I supposed to help Aang without bending? I mean sure I am a great fighter, but..."

Yue was speechless. Sokka didn't admit his insecurities to anyone. It meant he trusted her. She gave him a warm smile as she reassured him that there was more to it than just bending. Sokka seemed more confident, even if still skeptical.

"That's right, isn't it?" Sokka grinned, and promptly retold the stories of how he got that Jerkbender with his bumerang, how he outsmarted the pirates into fighting said jerkbender or the time he saved the whole village before a maniacal Jet. Yue couldn't help but laugh at some of his antiques, Sokka had this ability to be fun even when bragging about something. When he afterwards got shot down for calling himself a prince of sort, it still didn't stop him from entertaining her.

Yue noticed the performance ended, and now came the dancing part. People began to form couples and Sokka, being the brave (and lovely, Yue would say) man he was, asked her to dance with him. Yue happily accepted his offer, and let him lead her onto the dance floor. It was horrible. And not because Sokka was a bad dancer. He was, that much was right, but he had never danced before. That was the reason. Still, Yue didn't voice any complaint seeing how hard Sokka tried. Meanwhile, the Jade Dragon was being swarmed by local girls. They paid any attention to him only because of his reputation. Yue knew that, since his companion, far traveller and capable fighter himself, was sitting right next to him all alone, unnoticed. He was even good looking, Yue realized. She blushed. No, she couldn't think of him that way. She loved Sokka.

And they bumped into someone. Sokka started muttering apologies and Yue smiled guiltily. They crashed with Kaito, the young waterbender. He used to be friends with Yue, but these past few years he had kept his distance for some reason. Now it looked as if his sulking nature disappeared and was replaced with kind, cheerful demeanor. Kaito nodded, smiling. His dancing partner was Katara, Yue and Sokka noticed. But before Sokka had a chance to question his sister's actions, Yue took a hold of his arm and gently led him further from the green master waterbender and the girl he seemed to like. And she definitely didn't sneak a glance towards the lone man who left his place, and was now talking to two young benders both Yue and Kaito knew well.

OoOoOoOoO

Aang didn't get a shot on dancing with his cute companion. The reason for that was the chief himself, who was dead set on introducing the young Avatar to master Pakku, who would teach him waterbending. While Aang was glad he finaly had a teacher, he was just slightly annoyed since that one boy took Katara's hand, walked her to the dance floor and now was obviously flirting with her. And it looked like she flirted back. _Agggghhhhh! No! Why! Why can't I be the avatar just during the day? Gaaawwwddd. _With all these things in mind, Aang totaly missed everything he was told. The airbender waited it out, and returned to his place.

He found Nathan leaving for some more sociable company than his friend and his fangirls. Aang joined, not knowing what to do.

"So, where have you been?" Aang asked, partially because he wanted to know of his friend's adventures, and also because he wanted Nathan to have some fun too.

"Around the Earth Kingdom, you know, keeping refugies alive while they go somewhere safe, a clash with Fire Nation, a tournament, then we got imprisoned by pirates, helped start a mutiny, got ambushed. You know, fun stuff." Nathan shrugged as he told Aang the whole list.

"Whoa whoa whoa. That is a lot of trouble. But, how did you meet Huo?"

"And here I was asking myself when are you gonna get to the point. We've known each other for some time, but we've never travelled together before the pirates. We were kinda rivals. We still are, I guess." Nathan laughed as they reached their new company. Aang excused himself and left Nathan with the two waterbenders.

As the Avatar returned to his seat, he noticed Katara. She looked sad. Aang joined her, sitting down.

"Hey Katara! You look sad. What happened?"

"Nothing happened, Aang..." Katara raised her head and gave him a small sad smile. Even he could tell she was sad, and it pained him to see his friend in such mood.

"You know I'm here for you, Katara. You can tell me."

"No Aang, it's nothing..."

"You know I won't tell anyone. Pinky promise?" Aang still kept trying to get her to talk to him.

"Alright..." Katara exhaled deeply "Pinky promise."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Two weeks of travel by ship away from the now partying water tribesmen could be seen a fleet of Fire navy battleships. In the middle of the fleet was the flagship, which was now occupied by Fire military officers, an admiral, a famous general, though long retired, an undercover prince and two other important people. One of them was a professional killer hired to take out the Jade Dragon and his friend, the other was his employer.

As admiral Zhao proudly observed his huge fleet, he still couldn't get that man out of his head. Commander Shang came to him few weeks ago, asking to join his fleet. When questioned why, he answered he needed to exact revenge upon a criminal. Zhao was clever, or at least he liked to think he was. It was the retired general who put the pieces together. Commander Shang had a fresh strain on his reputation. A prisoner escaped from his encampment, breaking the commander's arm and even taking his attire on his way out. Zhao would laugh on the man, if only he didn't bring five more ships and an infamous firebending assassin.

The doors to the helm screeched, and a man in his forties entered. He had his armor on. There was no mistaking him, it was Shang. The man was oh so much stoic and soldier like than Zhao. He was well educated, well trained and a firebender. His mannerism was mostly reserved, if only he wasn't such a douche sometimes. That was what the man following behind the commander thought of him. He himself was better known as the Onyx, the Black Serpent. The name came for a reason. He preferred stealth, always wore dark, sleeveless top clothing, and he had a tattoo of a snake on his arms. He had a name from the life before this one, but he left it behind. The Black Serpent fit perfectly.

"I see you have come for a visit." Zhao said with an arrogant grin "Not that you were expected to make a difference."

Onyx glared at the admiral with muder on his mind. But he wasn't paid to make trouble. He had to endure that sick bastard just for the time of invasion.

"Come and see for yourself." Zhao snickered "With a fleet this great I can wipe out the whole tribe of those barbarians."

If he somehow survives the battle, which he won't, I will kill him myself, Onyx thought. He was sick of Zhao.

**AAAAAND CUT! So, How do ya like the preview? Are you hyped up for the next chapter? ARE YOU READY FOR THE SIEGE OF THE NORTH POLE?!  
So, grab some popcorn, grab yourself a beer, grab what so fucking ever you need cuz this is gonna be one hell of a ride!**

**Anyway, if you suggest something funny/crazy enough I might include it in the next chapter!**

**Thanks as always,  
Khai**


	9. Chapter 8: The Siege of the North

Chapter 8: The Siege of the North

Nathan:

I took cover behind a wall of ice that used to be a part of a house as a huge burning boulder crashed just a few feet away from me. That's right, the Water Tribe was under attack, and Ikken, Kaito and me were in area that was currently under bombardment. That meant the Fire Nation troops breached the outer wall and their ships were close enough for their artillery to reach the residential areas. We left our cover and continued our journey to give our unwanted visitors some old fashioned bloody welcome. How did it come to this?

_Flashback:_

"The Fire Navy is just outside the city, and their forces will soon attack. I have already given the command over the wall's defenses to Ikken, but it won't suffice." The chief spoke grimly to the group of men he specifically called to him. There was Pakku, Ikken, Kaito, Hahn, Huo and of course me.

"As it is now, the Avatar went outside the city to gather intel and to take down any number the ships he can manage. Now, I called you to give you your own roles during the battle."

All of us stiffened. No matter our age, this was to be our first battle.

"Ikken, you know your mission." chief Arnook began "Master Pakku, I ask you to secure the civilians into the inner section, and guard the wall. If necessary you are to retreat with all the people to the palace and make a stand there. Understood?"

Pakku nodded, not questioning his master's orders. Both he and Ikken bowed to the chief and ran off to their respective duties.

"Now, Kaito, you will take command of the platoon that is stationed outside of the palace. You will join our defense efforts in the residential areas, and set up barricades in there. It is essential to slow the enemy down until the full moon. All clear?"

Kaito nodded, and Arnook wished him good luck.

"Now the two of you will take up the uniforms of the Fire Navy and infiltrate their forces. I need you to eliminate their commanding officers and-"

"Why do these two weaklings get the most important mission? I want to lead the infiltration!" Hahn interrupted.

"...Alright Hahn, you can lead the mission. You two will then join Kaito's squad." chief obliged to Hahn's request. It was obvious he didn't believe Hahn was up to it. I agreed with him. It was a suicide mission even if Hahn wasn't such an arrogant bitch. With Hahn leading it, it was degraded to just suicide.

All of us nodded, bowed in respect and ran off.

_Back to reality:_

So here I am, trying to survive in a warzone while Hahn messes everything up. The FN ships ceased their fire, and their troops flooded through the wall. There they were welcomed by Ikken and the defenders. Good. While they fought for every bloody inch our squad checked for any civilians that somehow forgot to evacuate and our waterbenders set up the barricades. I ran in the closest house, and found out it took a hit of one of their flaming smelly projectiles. No people here. No living people here, I corrected myself as I noticed an arm in the blue clothing under tons of icy chunks. I battled the sick feeling that tried to take over me and make me throw up. This is war, get used to it. You've killed before. Yeah, I have. In self defense.  
I walked out of the ex-house and joined the rest of my squad. I was still a bit pale in y face, since Kaito noticed it.

"You alright?" He asked and I shrugged.

"The civilians were taken care of, and the barricades are all set up. So, let's kill some Fire Nation trash!" Kaito yelled. He got the same response from the men. Huo and me weren't so sure of this, but hey. We would have to fight sooner or later.

With a war cry, Kaito summoned a wave of freezing water and rode it in the battle. The men followed him with their weapons at ready, including Huo and me. What we ran in was pure chaos. I ducked under a sword and punched it's wielder in the guts. I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, taking his sword in my other hand. I stabbed him, pushed the dead weight off of the blade and swung it at a leg of another soldier. The man in question fell, his leg ending in his knee. I cut off his leg, I realized. I stabbed this one too. I finally got some space, and looked around. We were holding the wall, although there were several places where it was breached. This was a battle we couldn't win.

I parried another attack, swung horizontally at the attacker. I hit, and he fell to his knees as I yanked the blade out, and swung it down. He lost his head to me, and I was already on another soldier. It took me about four attacks to kill this one.

"FALL BACK! TO THE STREETS!"

I gladly followed all the surviving warriors in our retreat. Huo ran to the barricade and vaulted over it, and I followed in suit. We took cover behind the ice wall that protected us from attacks.

"Seems like Hahn failed to kill their leader." Kaito stated, looking over the barricade to see if we were followed. Judging from the fact that he send several sharp pointy icicles at something behind the wall, we were.

"That is no surprise to me." I retorted, annoyed at the whole prospect of Hahn.

I didn't expect Ikken to join us, so I nearly attacked him when he jumped over the barricade and landed right next to us. He didn't say a thing. It wasn't necessary. If he was here, it meant the wall fell, and the fight was coming here to the streets.

OoOoOoOoOoO

As I ended another soldier by slamming my sword through his helmet and into his skull, I noticed there was only Huo and me now. The rest of our squad was either dead or fighting for their lives in other streets.

"Hey, I got an idea." Huo said, heavy breathing.

"And what would that be?" I asked somewhat angrily. If this kept up we'd die.

"You see this one idiot? If we get an uniform like that, I can still go up to their boss and kill him." He shared his thoughts with me. Well, what else can we do? I looked down on the dead man who had his throat slit open by Huo's spear.

"Yeah, it could work. More like we can do nothing else anyway. So, we kill the next one with no blood spilling?"

We agreed on a plan. We get a guy, we kill him and take his uniform. Huo puts it on and infiltrates the enemy ranks. He kills their leader whenever he spots an opening. I, on the other hand, will head for the spirit cave, since that is the direction Zhao has to go in. If I get to him, I kill him or at least slow him down.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Onyx:

I was guarding Zhao and commander Shen as we rode to the spirit cave. Zhao planned to kill the Ocean spirit. It would leave the waterbenders defenseless and we would win the battle. That, and it would fuck up the entire world. It was a bad, bad idea. I was in two minds about killing him before we even reach the place. But I kept my thoughts to myself, and guarded my employer and that stupid admiral. I knew how the Jade Dragon's mind worked. He would come for the admiral, sooner or later. We were almost in our destination, when my waiting finally brought the result.

Zhao was now bragging about his plan, lost in his dream of fame and glory. It would be a perfect opportunity to strike. I wasn't disappointed.  
One of the firebenders from our ranks made his way to the admiral, but he was stopped by his personal guards.

"What do yo-" a guard didn't finish as he fell down with his neck snapped, dead. The attacker made quick process of two other guards before throwing a spear at the admiral.

That was where I came in, shooting the spear down with my firebending before it could hit.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

I was trying to make my way to the cave. All my effort was in vain. After cutting down five soldiers without slowing down, I got finally caught up in a big fight. I dodged and parried, cutting down enemies an breaking bones without much impact on how the battle went. I was already quite desperate, and then the moon turned red. Fuck. All the waterbenders lost control of their only way to fight and they either ran, or got killed. Double fuck. I was now occupied by two enemy soldiers without any allies aside from Kaito, who was cornered by a man with a spear.

I lunged, pushing a weapon to the side and slashing the soldier's head clean off. I ran to Kaito. His opponent didn't have the time to react as I grabbed him and threw him into a wall. Kaito nodded, silently thanking me, and took off. I finished off the man I threw in the wall before, and made my choice. If I was to die, I'd make my last stand here.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Katara was in trouble. She didn't expect to find herself surrounded by the enemy forces. Worse than that, she had no bending. In the red light, she tried to make her escape. The young girl ran through the streets, hoping to find help. Then, she hit something and fell to the ground. It was the boy who asked her out at the party. Kaito. He helped her up. Kaatara noticed that he, too, had no bending, since he had a sword in his hands.

"Come." he said and started running. Katara obliged. They passed a soldier in red, and Kaito fought him. He won, even if he got a few cuts. Katara asked him about them, but he waved her of, that they were just flesh wounds. They kept running.

Kaito ran out of the street to the main square, and he froze. Katara quickly found out why. It was a battlefield, only they came late. The place was littered with corpses and smoking craters in the ice. Dead tribesmen and Fire navy soldiers were just the better part of it. The less luck ones were still alive, slowly dying in pain.

"No.." Kaito ran off to a fallen warrior. It was a young man, a bit older than him.

"Kaito" the dying man said and reached out, his face twisting in pain. Kaito took his hand, and held it firmly.

"Kuai. Don't worry. You will live on. I won't let you die." Kaito promissed.

"I' glad I've met you." Kuai coughed out blood, and attempted to smile. "Both of you"

Kaito was crying. Tears were in his eyes, and it were tears of sadness. Sadness and anger. Katara was on the verge of crying too. The worn down man let go of his now dead friend's hand just as a group of soldiers came from the direction of the spirit cave, dragging someone down to their ships. Kaito raised his sword and charged. Half of their enemies did the same. Kaito killed the first one with single attack, blocked two himself before striking out himself. He managed to cut one's arm. Katara was sitting in fear, crying. She wasn't spotted so far.

Kaito cried out, as his luck finally gave out. A sword was stuck in his chest, his killer not even bothering to finish him off. Kaito fell on the ground, and the soldiers took off.

Katara was kneeling next to the dead man as Appa landed next to her. She was holding his hand, even if it was no use. She felt horribly. The boy loved her, he even died for her. Katara couldn't get rid of the feeling of guilt. She finally let go of his hand, and stood up. As she was about to climb on Appa, she noticed something in Kaito's other hand. She knelt down and picked it up. It was a half carved necklace, covered in the red, sticky blood of it's creator.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

I was now roaming the streets. With the moon back to normal and me still alive and somehow unharmed, safe for a few scratches and a bruise, I decided to hunt down the remains of the invading forces. Just now, I was chasing a soldier down the streets and to the bridges. My prey ran on the bridge and over it, and I was losing breath. So, in despair, I threw my sword as if it was a dagger. It hit, embedding itself in the man's flesh. As the soldier tried to get up, I reached him. I tore the sword out and threw it away. I lowered myself and snapped his neck. As I stood up, I noticed the fiery duel below me. I watched as the man - Zuko - overpowered the other one. Just when Zuko was about to finish it, a giant form of water appeared and grabbed Zhao, taking off.

Zuko stood there, puzzled. I finally made my way down, and now we stood face to face. Zuko frowned, falling into a stance. I raised my hand.

"This glorified glacier has seen enough blood today."

"What?" the prince growled.

"Get out of here, before someone else finds you. This glorfied glacier has seen enough blood today."

The prince gave in, nodded, and ran off.

**And cut! So, what do you think? Surprised, aren't you? Well, there goes final chapter of Book One, but don't worry. This story won't be divided in parts, so look forward to the next chapter! If you are curious what happened to Huo, you will have to wait until the next chapter.  
Again, I'll be glad if you tell me your opinion, as well as if you suggest something. Every author likes to get some feedback from time to time, you know.**

**Thanks again, I hope you enjoy this fic.**

**Khai**


	10. Chap 9: Nightmares and hopes

Chapter 9: Nightmares and hopes

After the battle was over, the remains of the Northern Water tribe gathered in the palace grounds, so the chief could at least say something to help his people to move forward. The tribe's population was halved, at best. The Avatar and his companions survived, but the same cannot be said about the princess or the majority of the tribe's warriors. The following week was as grim as the atmosphere which governed the city. It was easy to tell that only from the burial of the dead. Instead of the traditional freezing the body, and sending it into the sea, the bodies were just gathered on boats and burned.  
Arnook stood on the cliffside just above the sacred bay where they usually did one's last rites before sending them to the afterlife. Behind him were the other survivors. There was the Avatar with a sad face, Sokka who tried to act brave, Katara whose eyes were red from crying, her fingers squeezing a bloodied pendant. There was also Nathan, but he, too, did what he could to not betray any emotions. There was Ranna, the young waterending master, the only one of the three who was still alive. He, for once, didn't care who saw and was openly crying. Even the ever-rude Pakku was silent in grief. There was also Kaito, Ikken and Kuai. They and many others were lying in the boats further to the sea, their bodies burning the same way their souls did, determined to see the end of it.

They watched their friend's and family member's bodies burn in silence. They stood there until the fire went out. Arnook tried to find words to comfort his tribe, but failed. There was too much death. He just shook his head, and left so the others wouldn't see him crying. The rest of them soon followed.

OoOoOoOoOoO

That night, Arnook didn't sleep soundly. No, his mind didn't let him rest, instead it showed him his daughter. His dead daughter.  
He stood in the spirit cave. There was no blood, no ashes. Arnook walked to the pond, where the spirits resided. What he saw, terrified him more than the fleet of invaders. He saw the Ocean spirit. Dead, torn body of a fish. It's dead eyes watched him.

"Why?" asked a voice he knew so well. Arnook turned around. It was her. Yue. She was as beautiful as when she was still alive, before all this. Arnook didn't find the strength to talk. His vision blurred with tears.

"Yue" he whispered. Yue didn't respond, instead she looked at him with disappointment.

"Why did you let me die?" Yue asked, pleaded even "Why didn't you save me?"

Tears flowed out of her eyes down her face. Her father pulled her in a hug. They stood there silently, Arnook suffering in guilt. Then, the whole place exploded. Arnook hit the ground. He looked up, only to see the Fire Nation admiral.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Arnook woke up, his clothes soaked in tears. Soon, he regained his composure, and decided to go for a walk. Maybe it would help him calm himself. Arnook put on his ordinary clothes, and left the palace. He walked through the palace grounds and reached the square. It was still full of craters, stained by blood. He looked up to the sky. The moon was there, as a sign that his daughter didn't die in vain. Arnook's eyes were teary once again. But he couldn't grieve forever. Noone could, especially him. Arnook was the chief, he had to take care of the tribe. He sighed. What he needed wasn't more thinking, but to clear his mind. Arnook then took different route, leaving the main street and opting to walk to the residential area next to the palace. There was a part of their gallery, which was basically an alleyway of trees sculpted out of ice. Somehow, it remained untouched.

Arnook didn't expect to find anyone there, but he did. It was Nathan, sitting on a bench and looking to the sky. He was lost in thoughts. Arnook joined him.

"Oh, chief. It's you." Nathan acknowledged chief's existence.

"The stars are beautiful, don't you think?" Arnook asked. He didn't know what to say.

"Yeah." Nathan shared the sentiment of knowing nothing.

"You couldn't sleep either?" Nathan interrupted the silence after a few minutes.

"Yes. You aren't surprised by my appearance, but you have me curious. Why are you here?"

"Huo got captured." the younger man said, and didn't explain it further. Not until Arnook asked.

"The guy left a note. It said he was hired to get him to the mainland, and execute him along with me. He even gave me his location." Nathan told him, sounding bitter. Arnook understood. From what he knew the two of them were almost like brothers. It was without question that Nathan would try and free his friend.

"You know it's a trap?"

"Yeah."

"And you still insist on going?" Arnook asked, and Nathan nodded.

"Just know you are always welcome in the Northern Water Tribe." Arnook offered.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The next few days consisted mainly of working on repairing the city, and the Avatar and company preparing to leave. And Nathan training. The man didn't do anything else. He literally only rained, ate and slept. The day they had to leave arrived quite early, sooner then they expected, and later than Nathan wanted. All of the left on a boat. That kept up for a few days, until the Gaang decided to fly the rest of the way. Nathan was to join them on Appa.

OoOoOoOoOoO

As they said their goodbyes, Pakku decided it was time to finally hand over the gifts he was to give to the group.

"There is one last thing." Pakku announced "Katara, I want you to have this. This amulet contains water from the spirit oasis. It has unique properties. Don't lose it."

As he said that, his usual frown shifted into a small smile. His first female student had grown on him. He was surprised when the said girl hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, master Pakku." Katara said, smiling. They both grew up,they learned respect. Even Pakku did.

Katara stood to the side.

"Aang, these scrolls will help you master waterbending, but remember. There's no substitute for a real master."

The twelve year old in question bowed his head and grasped his new scrolls with a small smile. That smile would later turn into a grin once they were in the air.

"Nathan, this blade" said Pakku while carefully taking up a sheathed sword "is a gift from the chief himself. He said it would help you in future battles, and keep those you care about safe."

Nathan took the sword. It was katana, with blue fabric on the handle. He had no idea where it was forged. The water tribe had no blacksmith he knew of. But well, it would come in handy. Nathan bowed, not much differently from Aang, and walked to Appa the fluffy boi.

"Sokka" Pakku smiled as the boy excitedly approached, and patted him on the shoulder "take care son."

The boy was speechless. Pakku turned around and walked away from Appa, hiding his smile. He loved messing with people.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"So, what's the plan?" Sokka asked. He knew Nathan had his own agenda. There was silence as they flew in the clouds, sun shining. Such an unfitting weather for the mood Nathan was in.

"The plan is simple. I go to the commander, fight my way through his men all the way to Huo and kill anyone who gets in my way." Nathan growled.

The saddle, yet again, went silent. Aside from Appa, who choose just that very moment to groan.

"You are going to that fort Pakku told you about?" Nathan asked, sighing. He could frown all he wanted, but they still got to him.

"Yeah, they'll take us to Omashu. Aang has a friend in there who will teach him earthbending." Katara smiled "We'll be there for some time, so maybe we could meet there… right?"

Katara made effort to express they wouldn't mind if he stayed. Nathan smiled, but he either didn't notice or didn't care at the moment. It was more of a sad smile. His mind was not in there. Katara could only hope he wouldn't get caught too. Or worse… But he survived the pole, Katara thought. He won't die.

Nathan, on the other hand, was trying to come up with an actual plan for the rescue. It all was in vain since he didn't know anything of he location. He would really have to cut his way through.

"Yeah, we could." Nathan finally said.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Huo finally woke up. He was in a cell. What happened? The chief let them wander the city, right? Huo got up and walked to the bars. After hitting the metal bars it came to him. The North was under siege. They were losing, and he infiltrated the enemy ranks. Tried to kill Zhao. And failed. He failed, and now they were probably dead. Huo punched the wall. Fuck.

The door of his cell opened and through them came two men in Fire Navy uniforms. They took his arms, each man one arm, and led him out. His whole body hurt. Every single move hurt. While being dragged Huo finally looked on himself. His torso and left arm were burned red.

The two soldiers and the prisoner emerged on the deck. Huo was then thrown ti the two men in the middle. He recognised the one in black. It was the man who beat him. The man who burned him. Huo tried to attack, but he was too slow, and weak.

"I see you retained some hope. Good." Said the other man "I'm commander Shang, and I have some business with that friend of yours."

Huo didn't care. He just wanted to get away. He struggled, but the two guards kept him in place.

"See that beach? Further in that forest is a clearing. There we will wait or your friend."

**And cut! So, how do you like it? Is it making the impression I want it to? I hope you did like the darker part of the story, because, well, it's war and war is full of shit like this. Still, I wouldn't go too far. I hope I didn't.  
Once again I ask for your opinion and/or suggestions. Really guys, I do want to know what you think so talk to me.**

**We are getting to the second book of the Avatar series, and for those who are checking every chapter in hope for ships: I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait some time, since there won't be any aside from the canon for a few weeks. Also, what do you think Nathan should do during the Book Two?**

**Thanks as always.**

**Khai**


	11. Chap 10: Of Swords and Axes

Chapter 10: Of Swords and Axes

A group of men was camped in the clearing not far from the coast. Most of them in red armor, only two of them stood out with their appearances. One was all in black, with two tomahawks on his belt. He was barely an adult, but he was the strongest in the group. His skin was darker than that of an usual Fire Nation citizen. His name was Rangi, but he went by Onyx. He was no longer one of the Sun warriors, he had no use for his true name.  
The other man was more similar to the ordinary FN guy. He was pale, and his eyes had the same shape as customary in the Fire Nation, even though his eyes were green, not gold in color. He was the Jade Dragon, but now he was far from his former might. He was beaten, burned, and most importantly he was in chains. He was to be executed, but commander Shang decided to use him as a bait instead. The famed Dragon would die with his friend, but for that to happen, they needed to catch him first.  
That was the plan. They knew he would come.

Not so far away from the clearing was a rocky cliff, from where one could observe the whole camp unseen. The troops had been ignorant of it so far, and one man already decided to use it against them. Crouching on the cliff was a young warrior, who recently witnessed a massacre in the north pole they called a battle. He was dressed all in blue of the water tribe, and in his left hand was a sheathed katana. It had been around three, four months he had been in this world, and it was only now he finally recognised the dangers of war he was thrown into. His hair had grown longer, long enough for him to tie it into a ponytail of sorts. It had always grown fast, and it annoyed him to no avail. If he had longer hair, it would restrict his vision and probably cause his dead because he wouldn't see the attack coming.  
The man looked down and noticed that the patrols were changing.  
It was his cue.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The Gaang arrived to the Fong's base without Nathan. He asked them to drop him off by the coastline, and seeing how he was determined to go, they did. General Fong looked like a honest, kind type of man. He was already waiting in the country yard when they arrived.

"Welcome, Avatar Aang! I am general Fong." He bowed, and so did the man who were lined up behind him. He sure liked the drama.

"And welcome to all of you, great heroes, Appa, Momo, Great Sokka, Mighty Katara and... " the general finally noticed it "Weren't there supposed to be more of you?"

Aang gave him a wide, innocent smile.

"Mighty Katara? I like that." Katara said happily. Then they all turned in surprise to see the source of the whooooossssh noise, only to see the fireworks in the sky.

"Not bad, not bad." Sokka happily proclaimed, all excited by the treatment they were receiving.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

I left the cliffside the moment the patrols changed. As I made my way to the camp there was a noise coming from the direction of the fort, and soon there was a firework show. It helped me to sneak to the two poor guards unnoticed. I walked up to them.

"Hey, who are you? Stop right there!" a guard commanded, and in one fluent motion I drew my sword and slashed his throat, changed direction and killed the other one with a stab in his chest. I sheathed the blade and made my way to the camp. I walked between the tents. Suddenly, I heard a man shouting. It was an alarm, they knew of my presence now.

As soon as I reached the centre of the camp, I found myself being flanked by three armed men. One of them attacked with his sword, and I didn't bother drawing mine. I blocked his attack with my wrist-guard, and punched him in his ribs, then I grabbed his head and snapped his neck. That's one, two to go. Still not using my sword, I sidestepped a lunge with a spear, side kicked the man in his chest and lunged for the third man instead. My target desperately swung at me, but he was too slow. I was already right in front of him, kneeing him. He leaned over from the impact, and I siezed the opportunity, grabbing his dominant arm and breaking it. Then I kicked into his knee. It snapped to the other side, and he fell down, unable to even stand. I turned just in time to evade the spear again. I took the shaft, and tore the weapon out of it's owner's hands. I slammed it in his torso, stabbed his leg before delivering the killing blow.

There was a slight problem. While killing the spearman, I got surrounded.

"Here for your friend, are ya?" asked the man who was probably their boss "We were expecting you."

Another man appeared, this one dressed in black ninja like clothes. He was dragging a man whose body was mostly covered in burns. My eyes went wide as I recognised his face. It was Huo, all burned and beaten.

"Hurry up or else..." the man in charge sounded rather pleased with the situation.

"DIE!" I yelled and threw the spear at him.

He yelped in surprise as the spear hit the ground right next to him, and touched his leg. It cut him at least. He shouted at his men to kill me. Now, I drew the katana and charged. I ran past a soldier, slashing his torso. I spun to evade a sword, fell on one knee and stabbed upwards. The soldier got stabbed through. I pulled the blade out, and decapitated another soldier with one swing of the sword. I killed two more, but they had the numbers. They started to push me back in attempt to corner me. I stood, my back to a tree, surrounded by six men. This was bad. Really bad. One of them lunged and managed to scratch me. I grabbed him and smashed his body into that tree. I then went on autopilot, not caring about my own safety.

The next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of the camp, surrounded by dead men. I front of me was that ninja, the commander and Huo. My hair was somehow undone, and I was covered in blood, but aside from a few small cuts that would heal in a few days I was fine.

"Hand him over." I growled. It started raining, perfectly fitting the grim atmosphere in the camp.

"You think I'll just hand him over? He is to die here, same as you." the commander laughed and pointed at me "KILL HIM!"

The ninja sprung into action, and I responded, charging myself. He had his tomahawks (axes from now on), and I had my katana. My weapon clashed with one of his, but he didn't stop and attacked with his other axe. I struck it to the side and attacked myself. He dodged it, jumped to the side and swung his axe on my head. I slipped under it and slashed at his throat, but he leaned back to dodge it. We traded a few blows before I managed to achieve something. He swung his axe from above, and I stepped to the side, grabbed his head and headbutted him. Then I beat him to the ground with a front kick. He dropped his axes, so he had his hands free and regained his footing easily. He drew a black dagger and lunged again. I parried this strike, and the next one too. I pushed him to the side and attacked.

I watched in shock as his dagger went straight through the blade of my sword. I stumbled back and he missed, but now I had no reach, and he could definitely cut through my bracers with that freaky dagger. He knew it, and attacked again. Only he let his overconfidence get the better of him, and didn't expect me to intercept his attack, batting it aside as if it was a punch. He took a hook in the face. Then I took him and threw him through a tent, a rather huge one. The whole construction fell on him, and he got hit by a metal rod. I turned to the commander, only to find him missing. Huo was there, lying on the ground, with a wound from a sword through his chest.

"...K-kill... that bas-tard... f-for me..." Huo caughed up, dying.

I stood there, unable to move from the shock. He was stronger than me. He had more experience and bending, and he still got killed by a sick bastard of a man.

That is when the ninja chose to attack me. Instead of a dagger, he hit my head with a rock. The rock, however broke into pieces when he hit me. I turned, and power hooked him in the face. He fell, I jumped on him and hit him in the head. Again. And again. And again and again and again. I finaly got up. The ninja had his jaw broken, maybe a concussion. He was all bloody. I let him be and walk to my dead friend. I kneel next to him, trying to find some words to say. I found none. I noticed the jade amulet he wore. I picked it up, and tied it to my belt. Now I had something to remember him by. I won't forget.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Far from the Gaang was the Fire Nation princess, waiting for her traitor of an uncle and waekling brother on her ship, having them fooled so they didn't fight back.

"Wait, don't leave without me!" Iroh called out as he caught up to his nephew.

"Uncle! You've changed your mind!" Zuko exclaimed happily. He knew he could count on his uncle, and he was glad the general decided to join.

"Family sticks together, right?" Iroh patted Zuko's shoulder. He wouldn't leave the boy.

"We're finally going home." Zuko said, and resumed his way down to the ship. As did Iroh, who, however, didn't share the happy feeling with his nephew. This wasn't like Azula. Something was wrong...

They reached the ship, where they were welcomed by eight elite firebender guards on the deck, and the princess on board. Iroh eyed the soldiers cautiously. This didn't fit the idea of a prince being allowed back to his place. It was closer to bringing two men to the Boiling Rock. But maybe, just maybe he was wrong.

"Brother, uncle. Welcome." Azula bowed her head, and Iroh with Zuko did the same. "I'm so glad you decided to come."

As she said that, the guards behind the prince and the general went into a formation behind them. An elegant way of cutting their escape route.

"Are we ready to depart, your highness?" asked the captain of the guards.

"Yes, set our course for home." Azula said with an innocent smile. A smile Iroh immediately saw through. The way she said the word home just proved it. She wanted Zuko to be all emotional and irrational. So far, it had worked.

"Home.." Zuko muttered as he walked up the ramp.

"You heard the princess! Raise the anchors! We're taking the prisoners home!"

Both of them looked in shock. Prisoners? She lied to me! Thought the prince, while his uncle only faked the surprise.

"Your highness, I-" the captain started an apology, but was promptly thrown into the water by enraged Zuko. Meanwhile, Iroh successfully fought the eight firebenders without much effort.

"YOU LIED TO ME!" Zuko yelled and charged at his sister...

What they didn't know was that they were being watched. Commander Shang had a horrible month. But now when he found the princess, that would surely change.

**So, what do you think? Did you notice any... loose stones? Yeah, It sounded waaaayyy better in my head. Imma let myself out now. Anyway, there was some little foreshadowing, so you could actually find some hints on what's going to happen next.  
How do you like it? Tell me your opinions in reviews or PMs.**

**The next will be Omashu, so hold on tight!**

**Thanks again.**

**Khai**


	12. Chapter 11: The New Ozai

Chapter 11: The New Ozai

Nathan:

"New Ozai? For real?" I asked nobody in particular.

I've been there for three days now, and apparently Aang and company left about a week ago, and managed to evacuate all the people who wanted to leave at the time. I wasn't sure if the plan with pentapox was a masterwork or the local Fire Nation militia were just plain retards. Maybe it was both. No matter though, since there were quite a lot things to do. For one, I wanted to actually meet the mad genius, Bumi. He was so interesting of a character in the show I just had to meet him. For number two, there were a few people who got into trouble with the current government ,because why not ignore their rules when you decide to stay in their city, right? My intention was to get to them, get them out of the city and get them somewhere safe. As it was, number one had to wait and I'd have to leave right after I begin number two, so I was stuck. Why was that? I was not foolish enough to challenge the three girls who I knew were still here. Not without bending. Yes, I did recently found out that despite all that other world shit I could earthbend, but I still had nothing more than the absolute basics down. Even that was because I was trying to learn something ever since Huo died. I couldn't afford to die or dwell on my friend's death. This was war.

Right now I was sitting in an inn, at the same table as a group of displeased locals who kindly briefed me on the situation. They weren't exactly the friendliest folk, but that was to be expected.

"Yeah, for real. When the princess showed up, she renamed our city. I hate that name." An older man with graying hair said, and the rest of them nodded in agreement.

"You have to admit it is quite original. There is only New Sozin and New Azul, right?" I spit out sarcastically. Yeah, there was a bunch of colonial towns the Fire Nation renamed like that. "Sucks."

"You don't like the names, do you?" a not so bright man asked. How could he not get it?

"No, I hate it. They are so uncreative it pains me."

As I said that, a woman ran through the door in, looking relieved. She then almost yelled that the princess was about to leave. The occupants of the inn went to see her and her royal procession leave the city. They seemed to like the idea of getting rid of the princess. I joined the forming crowd, wanting to make sure she left before starting the Operation Madman. The crowd reached the main gate, where could be seen a train-like machine made of metal, and a group of fire nation girls. I was pretty far away so I couldn't make out their features, but meh. It was them and they were leaving. I left only after they entered their means of transport, knowing they won't come back.

OoOoOoOoOoO

I was finally free to begin the mission, but first I'd need to do some research. And what better way to start then by tracking down a group of guards in red. So here I was, in one of those shadier tight streets that were mostly used by thugs. These guys were a regular patrol, and wouldn't know much. But hey, beginnings are beginnings. I waited until they turned around a corner so they wouldn't be seen from the more populated streets. They didn't see me coming. There were only five of them, and I snuck behind one and got him into a sleeper hold and subdued him in silence. That was easy. Then I started the fun part. I snuck behind the other one, and slammed my foot in his knee. He fell on his knees with a yelp of surprise, and I snapped his neck. I know I didn't want to kill if not necessary, but after the north pole I couldn't bring myself to feel for the Fire Nation soldiers. The fact they killed the only person who knew where I was from didn't really help it either.

I took the katana with broken blade, which I called the moon blade because of it's broken nature, and threw it at another soldier. It hit his forehead, and he dropped dead. The last two attacked with their swords. I sidestepped one and blocked the other with my bracer, jumping to the one whose sword I blocked. I twisted his wrist, grabbed his sword and cut his own throat with it. The last one attacked again, only for me to slip to the side and stab my sword through his leg. The man screamed in pain as his legs failed him. I lowered myself to him.

"You will answer my questions, and maybe I'll let you live." I whispered.

OoOoOoOoOoO

It turned out this man knew nothing of Bumi. However, he also told me who would have the information. Aside from the governor, it would be the Fire Nation captains. There were three of them in New Ozai. Omashu. Fuck, I liked the original name better. The captains would be guarded, but that wouldn't be a problem. I choked that man until he dropped unconscious, and then interrogated the two others. One of them served for captain Yamato before he was demoted because of his gambling habit. I learned the following: Captain Yamato was a top notch firebender, and a good strategist. What he lacked, however, was caution. In short, he believed he was safe here because of the city's conquered status. The captain still kept two to four bodyguards, but that would be easy to take care of. I also knew where to find him. He liked women, and there happened to be a red lamp district in Oma - New Ozai. Now I got dow all I needed. I was nearly starting to enjoy the situation. Except for the city's name, that is.

With this in mind, I made my way down to the said area. The street consisted of sturdy, yet elegant buildings with lamps in various shades of the Fire Nation color. It could be either local garrison, or a fucking bitch business. Not that there was much of a difference between the two. I made my way through the area, taking in the surroundings. Anything I could use for cover or as an obstacle for my enemies would come in handy, so I took note of all of them. Now, I would return to the inn, get something to eat and wait until the evening.

I made my way to the red district once again, though now it was clearly getting darker. I decided to wait for mr Yamato, whoever he was. But the time passed and my target wasn't showing up. It was frustrating. Even more annoying was the sales-girl who tried to stroke up a conversation with me.  
"So, where did you say you are from?" she asked cheerfully. I gave her annyoed look. She was getting on my nerves. Don't get me wrong, she was pretty, around my age and all the good stuff. I wouldn't normally mind her attention, but now it was getting in my way.

"Far away. I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh. And how did you get here in the city?" she asked. No name, I noticed. It seemed everyone hated the new name.

"I travel a lot." I let out a sad smile, remembering my time with the dead fighter.

"You do? Where have you been?" she didn't cease her question catling cannon of a mouth. I sighed.

"Few colonies, the Water Tribe, Kutian..." I answered, just to get her to shut up.

"The Northern Water tribe? I heard there was a battle recently, and the Fire navy lost."

"Yeah, and half of the Tribe died that night." I ended the discussion. The girl was puzzled by my sudden shift of attention. I got up and started walking away. She didn't matter anymore. I found my target.

OoOoOoOoOoO

I tailed Yamato as he walked down the street with two bodyguards of his. All of them were unaware of my presence. The captain was obviously undecided on his host for tonight, since he was strolling down the street, performing some kinky windowshopping. He suddenly stopped before one of the many facilities and made his way inside. His stop was so unexpected that his guards crashed into each other as they didn't want to litteraly run into their boss. I chuckled. This would be easy.

It wasn't. It definitely wasn't as easy as I expected it to be. The facility had three floors, The ground was some sort of desk, where stood an older woman, probably the owner. The next two floors consisted of rooms, where the merchandise was to be used. In other words, bedrooms. I waited for a brief moment before entering myself, and I somewhat regretted the decision. The captain left for a bedroom already, and so did his bodyguards. They were apparently regulars. Oh well...

"Oh hello there! How can I help you?" asked the owner "It's good to see some new faces. So, what type would you like young man?"

I froze in panic. Shit, I didn't think of this! Fuck me! Oh wait, they would actualy do that here. Oh come on, you need to come up with something before it gets too weird.

"Oh, need some details, do you? We have here all kinds of girls! The blondes, brunettes, even redheads. Say, young man, you look like the travelling type, would you like some old fashioned brunette with big tits? Or something more exotic, like a fiery girl with skin like marble?" The woman definitely knew what she was doing. I was here on business, and she still managed to get her words into my head. Even worse, I was starting to consider her offer.

Oh wait. I would have to look like a customer if I was to catch the captain out of guard. Okay, you know you like passionate women, and you could even get some. I ordered the latter, and the owner sent me to a room on the second floor. Alright, now I had some time before the girl would arrive.  
I didn't find anything on the second floor, and was about to check the third, when one of the girls walked past me, muttering something about a pig of a captain. I smiled. I was in luck.

I followed the girl all the way to the room she entered. I considered going in, but ultimately I decided against it. I wouldn't want a poor working girl getting caught in the crossfire. I noted which room was it, and left for the mine.

OoOoOoOoOoO

I stood before the captains room again. This visit went better than expected so far. I was just in time. Captain's girl left the room, and gave me a questioning glare. I pressed a finger against my lips. She noticed my half-bladed katana, and nodded. Good, there would be no disturbances. The door opened, revealing the captain. His face betrayed his surprise as he saw me.

"What are you doing?" he questioned.

I leaned forward and pushed him in the room. He stumbled over the huge comfy bed and fell. I closed the door and jumped at him with a my dagger in hands. His eyes widened in fear. He rolled and the blade missed him by not even an inch. He stumbled away from me and threw a firebending jab as I lunged. But he was panicked and his attack went wide. My blade cut his chest, and I shoulder-bashed him while grabbing his wrist. His arm was straight thanks to the shoulder bash, and I turned around, slamming it in my shoulder. His arm went limp with a sickening crack as his arm broke. I stepped back and hit him with a crescent kick in his head. What I didn't see coming was captain Yamato's unconscious body falling out of window, head first. My target did not only die from the fall - fuck - but also alerted the group of guards - double fuck. The guards ran off alarmed.

I left the room quickly. At the same moment I heard the guards barging in. Shit. I made my way to the exit, hoping to find a hiding place on the way. The soldiers were running up the stairs.

"Shit." I muttered, cursing myself for the fateful kick. The first men in red appeared on the second floor. I looked around in despair, only to see a bedroom door open. A hand grabbed me by my shirt and forcefully pulled me in the room.

OoOoOoOoOoO

I stood in shock, staring at the door as the guards ran past it. There was only one person more in the room, and that person was a woman. She was slim, with some degree of bounciness in her body, though she was rather petite. Her hair was long and pitch black, and skin pale. She looked quite good, even though I couldn't be really sure with all the make-up. What betrayed her origin were her eyes. Her golden eyes. She was Fire Nation, but she helped me hide from the guards. Just what the hell her deal was?

"Ahem. Wouldn't you mind not staring?" She asked "It's all good you find me atractive, but it's getting annyoing."

"...Right, sorry."

"My name is June." she gave me a sly look "What is yours?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

I, along with my unexpected ally, snuck out on her sniffy poisonous pet lizard. She found the whole situation aumsing, and decided to help me. Her reason? It was for "the fuck of it". No biggie, right? But it helped me overcome the death of my source of information. Right now the shirshu lizzard tracked the mad king's smell through the city. Thankfully we were unnoticed so far. We skidded from one roof to another in the middle of the night. It would be quite some romantic experience, if only it wasn't the bounty hunter as my companion.

We reached the end of the trail. I jumped from the back of the lizard, and eyed the half ruin of a house before me. Really? This was where the mad genius was kept? I was thinking about what to expect when the bounty hunter appeared next to me.

"Good luck, Nathan." June smiled.

"You ain't coming?" I asked, not surprised much. I was half expecting her to leave me to go by myself for the most part of the ride.

"I'm not. It is for the best I put some distance between us."

"What about the payment?" I was puzzled. We didn't discuss any kind of compensation for her help, and I didn't expect her to just leave without her coin.

"This will suffice." She leaned to me, her eyes giving me the same look as they would to her prey. Then she closed her eyes and kissed me. "You were clearly more fun than prince Scar Face."

"I - what?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

I stood in a metal room, which was empty aside from the steel coffin hanging in the middle. There was a hole in the coffin, and through the hole came a face I knew well from the show.

"King Bumi." I grinned "The mad genius. It's pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." Bumi replied before an outburst of laughter. Yeah, he was totaly insane. "But what do I owe it to?"

"Let's say you have a reputation, and there is a friend we have in common."

"Oh, right. That's kind of Aang to send you to check on me." Bumi chuckled.

"Aang has no idea of me being here."

"Oh... OHHHHHHHHH! SO YOU CAME HERE FOR YOUR OWN REASONS THEN!" Bumi roared, half laughing.

"I do. For one I was wondering if you could give me some points on earthbending. That and if you wanted to leave. So, do you?"

"Leaf? I get enough of those!" Bumi grinned.

"Let me restate that. Do you want to get out of here?"

"What, no. It's too soon for me to leaf them." Bumi assured me happily. He was way too cheerful for someone locked in a metal coffin.

"Alright then. And do you mind telling me how to... rock properly?" I decided to play his game of puns. He had nothing else to do here anyway.

"Let me see..." Bumi seemed to lose himself in thoughts for a moment. I wasn't sure if he didn't want me to let him see the sea. Bumi was probably the most hilarious person alive, maybe except for Sokka.

"You do have fighting experience, don't you?" the mad man asked and I nodded in agreement.

"Good, then there is but one thing to say. There is no reason for the traditional rigid stances. You only need to understand the element, feel it as if it was part of you, because-" Bumi chuckled "-it is. Make the rock be extension of yourself, young man. And never let anyone tell you what is possible and what is not. Think like a mad genius!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

I've leafed king Bumi in his cell and went to the place where the citizens who got into trouble with the Fire Nation were hiding. It was and underground cavern of sort, and the only source of light in there were these green shiny crystals. I found the entrance after much effort, and much to my disappointment the only way inside was through a huge rock. I tried to earthbend it as I remembered from the show. Needless to say, nothing happened. I've been trying to move the rock ever since, and quite ironically even the rising sun found me here, exhausted and asleep on the very rock.

I woke up, still tired from my rock moving trials yesterday.

"Oh come on. move you piece of shit." I muttered and slammed my fist into the rock angrily.

What I clearly didn't see coming was that the rock basically exploded into pieces and I fell straight through the shaft under it.

**So, how do you like it? I know, this one is a little - lot - longer than usual, but it was somewhat needed and I couldn't bring myself to divide this chapter in two. I really like Bumi and I hope I got him right. I didn't originally plan on including June, but she did somewhat fit the atmosphere, so there she is. Anyway, I'd be glad if you told me your opinion. I didn't say this word by word, but I will since noone thought of it yet. I accept even OC suggestions, so if you have an idea for a character, feel free to tell me if and when I should include them.**

**As always, thank you guys.**

**Khai**


	13. Chapter 12: Travellers

Chapter 12: Travellers

Nathan:

I found my way to the cavern where the fugitives hid before the authorities. There was a good number of them, probably twenty to thirty. I'd offered to get them out of the city, and take them to the closest safe settlement. It was no surprise they were thrilled by the prospect of leaving this place. Who would want to be a caveman, right? I understood their desire to get the fuck out of New Ozai and the cavern both. I didn't get why they hid here when they had an earthbender in their ranks. I instructed them to dig under the walls, and they obeyed. Soon enough we were on the road to the closest settlement, which was pretty far away according to a tall man well in his fifties, who acted as an unofficial leader to the group. And so we walked all day, stopping only for lunch.

We only made our camp when the sun left the sky and the moon took over. Seeing we didn't have anything aside from two caravans, which were occupied by the women and the only two kids there were we made a fireplace and placed our blankets around it. Seeing a group of men decided to have an evening snack, I decided to join them. They didn't bat an eye on my sudden appearance, and kept talking as if I was one of them. It was nice of them to accept me so quickly. The earthbender even offered me some dried meat. As we ate, a little boy ran out of the caravan. He headed straight to us, and crashed into an older man.

"Hi gran'pa!" the boy gave us a huge grinn as he hugged the man he just crashed into.

"Oh hello Min. Where did you come from?" the man asked his grandson kindly. Min cheerfully ran around the fire before he replied.

"Ma said I should check up on you!" The kid smiled and finally sat down. He then proceeded to poke the fire with a stick. The men laughed at the disturbance, and turned their attention to their snacks again.

"So, what is your story?" asked the earthbender, and all their gazes turned at me.

"Uhhhhh what?" I didn't get it. What story? We weren't telling any sort of tales, not that I knew any. Oh wait, this story. They are asking about my past.

"Your story. You just showed up and led us out of the city. You even offered to take us to safety." the old man said, and the others nodded in agreement

"So, what did you do before we met?"

"I've been travelling for some time, that's basically it." I replied, not feeling like talking about past. That was to be discussed another time. Preferably never.

"Oh come ooooon. You surely had a ton of adventures, didn't you?" little Min pleaded. He probably thought I was free to do whatever I wanted, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Well, not entirely, since I could still choose the direction I went in, but that was pretty much it. Every place I went to I had to either hide or fight to make it out alive. The North pole would be perfect example.

"Adventures?" I asked instead of berating the little rascal. What could I talk about without giving the kid nightmares? Kutian tournament was probably the only experience I could speak of with the kid here, along with the pirate incident where I helped Aang and copany get away.

"Well, there are two events that could be thought of that way. The first one was when I visited this small port town..." I started telling the story. I excluded the fact that I killed several pirates that day, but other than that, I told them all of it. I spoke of the tournament then, deciding to tell them Huo and I grew up in the same village instead of telling them our true origin. When I finished the second story, the little boy was looking at me with awe.

"So, what is the Avatar like?" Min asked, cheerful and happy he got to listen to some stories.

"He is, well, a young bald boy with arrow tattoos all over his body. Other than that? He is kind, friendly and peaceful. Sometimes he acts like a goofy little kid, but hey, he is literally an airhead." I watched the fire as I said that. The boy somehow managed to make me forget my worries simply by talking. I really needed to talk to people more often, I realized.

All the men, while they still had fun listening, noticed I excluded the bloody stuff, and the night continued on a more serious noe from then for the next half an hour or so. That was when a boy a bit younger than me left for the caravan and returned with a guitar.

"Singing time! Sensu is going to sing!" young Min cheered along with the men. And Sensu sat down next to the boy and asked. "So, what would you like to hear tonight?"

"Leaves in the wind! Play leaves in the wind! Pretty please!"

Sensu heartily laughed at Min's antics and nodded. He then stroke the strings. Fast paced, lively melody replaced the silence of the night and soon Sensu joined it with his voice. I've never heard that song before, but if I had to compare it to something, it would be Counting Stars. It had similar melody and pace. Min joined in singing and others soon followed.

We sung till late hours, and went to sleep in much better mod then when we sat down. For the first time in ages I had pleasant dreams. In those dreams, I was on a trip. I wasn't alone, there was the Gaang, Huo and even Jerome and my friends from the club back home. Everybody got along well enough, and we had a lot of fun. I almost didn't want the dream to end.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The rest of our way to the village went the same way as the first day. We packed our things and left the campsite with sunrise, and stopped only for lunch and in the evening, when we set up our camp again. Every night Sensu sang his songs. And he had lots of them. There were those happy fast songs, sad ones that told a story and the traditional ones. He even sang one that while being romantic had hints of dirtiness all over it. He would sing it again if not for Min's mom who berated us all as if we were little kids.

Time passed quickly thanks to the fact that there was always something happening, be it Sensu's songs or Min's pranks - he was good, I had to give him that. I was just hoping he wouldn't try putting a snake next to my head, as he did it to his aunt. When she noticed the poor animal, she jumped good four feet in the air while screaming in panic. And honestly, it wouldn't go much different with me. Anyway, I asked our only earthbender, Jon, if he'd try and teach me something. He agreed, and I tried to move rocks every time we stopped for a lunch.

It was three weeks of daily earthbending experience for me when we finally arrived to a village.

"Where are all the people?" Min asked, his head being the only part outside the caravan.

"They left. And for a good reason it seems." Jon said. He was right. The whole place was burned to the ground.

I walked to the closest ruins of a house and looked inside. There were no people and everything valuable was missing.

"Pillaged." I stated "The Fire Army was here."

Jon and the others exchanged worried looks. This was their first time seeing anything like this. I, on the other hand, have seen this before during the Siege up north.

"I'm going to scout this place. We should check for survivors." I told them, and the men nodded in silence. Noone had their hopes up, but still better safe than sorry. If anyone managed to avoid their death here, they should be taken care of.

I ran off further down the burned remains of houses, and others did the same. I searched through the streets, dug through the ashen remains of wooden constructions, only to find a chair smashed to pieces and a piece or two of parchment. As I returned with my head low, I noticed our group was on their feet, standing around something I could not see. I made my way through, and stood before a teenage girl with her face and hair covered in ash.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The girl introduced herself as Rin. She was sixteen, barely considered an adult. Her eyes were big and green, her hair brown. It reached only her shoulders. Rin was of a rather small built, and was no warrior or worker for sure. The whole group had their eyes on her as she sat by the campfire munching her food. I even noticed she looked kind of cute. Good for me. She was to join us on our way to Gaoling, which was the closest safe destination. As I minded my own business, namely spinning some pebbles in the air, Min and the others asked her about her past, hobbies and stuff like that. There was one particular sentence that caught my attention.

"I was a sculptor. I've always liked beautiful things and with my earthbending it was easy to shape stone." Rin told the men who sat around her in a circle.

"Wow, you must be good! Can you show me? Please!" Min demanded.

Rin smiled at the boy, put her bowl away and stood up. She walked away from the fireplace, and started her show.

"First, you must raise a column out of the ground. Like this!" Rin said as she moved her arm up. Of course, a column of solid rock rose along with her arm. "Then, you cut off the unnecessary parts." She swung her palm rapidly in various angles, and pieces of the mass were cut off.  
She was untrained in the combat part of earthbending, I was sure of that. Or any part of earthbending. She was spontaneously forcing the rock to obey her, and act upon her will. She was what the mad king Bumi would call a true earthbender.

"And now you shape it until you like it!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

We finally reached Gaoling. We said our goodbyes, recalling all the time we spent together. Originaly I planned to ask for payment as I was supposedly their guard, but all the fun we had together made me reconsider. They grew on me, no matter if I wanted or not. In the past weeks I gained more than I had before in this world. I made few friends, learned to earthbend in a way Bumi urged me to, my way. Heck, I even learnt a few songs, and was able to play one or two myself. I wasn't happy to leave the group, but at the same time I was rid of the lonely feeling I've had since the North Pole.  
As I walked through the town, a man with fliers noticed me. He walked next to me, and began.

"Do you like earthbending? You like throwing rocks? Then check out master Yu's academy!"

He handed me a flyer without actually asking if I was interested. As I resumed my walk, I started thinking the whole rock throwing thing over. If I went there, I would be able to actually learn something, wouldn't I? No, I probably wouldn't. It was an academy, and any earthbender here started at young age. With my fighting experience there would be no need for me to improve. But meh, I can have some fun. At least I could see if the assistent's name was Me or something like that.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Hello, and welcome to the Earthbending academy." the master, and old man with a somewhat okay built said.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Yu" he said, but I decided to play a game.

"No, not me, you."

"Yes, I'm Yu."

"Oh come on just answer one goddamn question. Who are you?"

"I have told you."

"Are you deaf?!" I mocked him.

"No, Yu is not deaf."

"Shut up! You!" I yelled at the master and turned on his assistant.

"Yes?" master Yu replied.

"Not you, him!" I yelled, exagerating my anger while my brain was about to explode from the sheer hilarity of this situation. "What's your name!"

"Mi."

"Yes you!" I replied, acting like I meant it, while I mentally cringed. His name is really Mi? Duuuude.

"I am Mi." the instructor stated, and master Yu hasted to help him.

"He is Mi, and I am Yu."

"And I'm gonna kick your damn ass cuz I'm sick of playing your games!" I pointed at the master. "You, me! Everybody's me around here! Imma kick his ass man!"

The students who were watching the whole thing and were almost crying from laughter led me outside, ensuring I didn't break something. As we left the academy grounds, the two students burst out laughing.

"That was perfect, man!" one of them managed to say between the laughs. They sure had hard time calming down.

"Hey" the other one asked "If you really wanna see some earthbending, there is the big event, Earth Rumble Six! It is this evening."

"Sounds like fun. Guess I'll give it a try. Maybe you're talking with the next champ!" I laughed, but I was, in fact, considering signing up as a fighter.

This one was sure a perfect day.

**So, what do you think? I hope you like the fic, it is meant for you after all. In the next part, you guessed it, we will get to see the one and only Tooooooph Beifooooong! So when the next chapter comes out go and grab some popcorn, grab some beer or whatever you want and PREPARE TO RUMBLE! Don't let the rock'n roll hype die just yet, cuz you're in for some EARTHBENDING SLICE!**

**As always, any suggestions and/or opinions are welcome. **

**IF ANYONE HAS A OC EARTHBENDER IN MIND I NEED YOU TO WRITE THEM TO ME! I seriously need help. Please. *starts crying***

**Thanks for your help guys.**

**Khai**


	14. Chapter 13: How Not To Win a Tournament

Chapter 13: How Not To Win a Tournament

Aang sadly remembered the last time he met his friend Bumi as he, Sokka and Katara reached Yu's Earthbending Academy.

"I guess I need to find someone else to teach me earthbending..." Aang stated, his head down.

"You need to find someone who waits, and listens before striking." the mad king smiled at Aang from his prison.

Aang entered the academy grounds. The very moment an older man appeared, smiling.

"Welcome to Yu's Earthbending Academy. My name is master Yu." the man introduced himself, determined not to let the occurence from an hour ago repeat. "Are you here for the lessons?"

Aang nodded and showed Yu the flyer.

"Very well then, the first lesson is free, young man." Yu said, happy this kid didn't mock him. He had enough for the day. As Aang left for the changing room to put on an earthbender's uniform, he overheard two students laughing, talking about a tall young man who made fun of their master.

Aang then excitedly joined the training session, but it turned out to be a waste of time. The Avatar was as clueless on earthbending as he was before, and the only thing he got was hit with a rock. It wasn't exactly what he would call pleasant experience.

Aang walked out of the academy, and shook dust out of his ears as he joined his friends who were waiting for him just outside.

"He's not the one." Aang stated dissapointedly. Katara gave him a comforting look and Sokka just groaned.

"I think the Boulder is gonna win back the belt in Earth Rumble Six!" a student excitedly chatted with his pal. Their conversation grabbed the Gaang's attention.

"He's gonna fight his way through the best earthbenders in the world to even get a shot on the champ. Not to mention that guy from before!"

"Right, didn't he say he'd give it a shot?" they laughed. That guy came to the academy, that meant he couldn't be that good. That didn't mean they couldn't root for him and his half funny half jerk attitude. "This is gonna be a great show."

"Excuse me, but where is this earthbending tournament exactly?" Aang cheered up again in hope, and rushed to the two students. With a little bit of luck he could find his master today. Meanwhile the two guys he asked looked at each other, and then gave a sly look to the bald kid asking.

"It's on the island of Noneya." they grinned "Noneya Business!"

The two of them started walking away as saddened Arrows stood there, a little puzzled. Katara and Sokka joined him, Sokka laughing so hard his eyes were all teary.

"Oooooooh! Gotta remember that one!"

"I'll take care of this." Katara told Aang, and ran off to catch up to the guys. The two boys stood there in silence for a while, before Sokka complained:

"What was I thinking, I don't need a new bag! Why'd you let me buy this?"

Sokka then put the bag on the ground, only for Momo to crawl inside and make it his new bed.

"Are you ready to find an earthbending teacher?" Katara appeared again, clearly pleased with herself. Aang perked up, surprised. " 'Cause we're going to Earth Rumble Six!"

"But how did you get them to tell you?" Aang asked, a bit puzzled. Those two didn't look like telling them before. The avatar was wondering what Katara did in order to make them tell her.

"A girl has her ways." Katara looked away, sporting a small smile.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"ROUND ONE! THE BOULDER VERSUS THE BIG! BAD! HIPPO!"

The Hippo, a huge man well around 7 feet in height with a fair amount of muscle, and even more fat for that matter, yelled in a way that resembled a hippo noise. As he opened his mouth, one could see his teeth, that were exactly like those of a hippo.

The other man was tall as well, though he was one and half feet smaller than the Hippo. This guy, the Boulder, was an insanely ripped guy in his thirties or early forties. His hair was dark brown, and he had a tattoo of a badger-mole on his back.

"Listen up Hippo! You may be big, but you ain't bad. The Boulder is gonna win this in a landslide!" the Boulder's voice rang through the huge underground arena, as the Boulder gave his entering speech while pointing at Hippo.

"Hippo... MAD!" Hippo shouted, and stomped the ground, which cracked on impact. No matter if it was from his bending or his tremendous weight, it was impressive.

The boulder stomped, falling into a stance, and punched the rock that lifted in the air in front of him. The rock hit it's target, but the Hippo didn't even stumble. Instead, the rock crashed when it hit his body. The Hippo chewed on the pebbles that got in his mouth before spitting them out. The Hippo then jumped. As he landed, the whole platform started to move.

"UNBELIEVABLE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE HIPPO SI ROCKING THE GROUND!"

The Boulder stumbled to the edge, failing to regain his balance. He nearly fell out of the ring, but in the last possible moment he saved himself from falling out with a block of stone. The Boulder grabbed onto it and threw it at the Hippo. That got the fatso's attention. The Hippo turned only to see the Boulder jump closer, and promptly lift a huge chunk of stone from the arena, namely the part where the Hippo was standing. The Boulder then threw his opponent out of the ring with much effort.

"THE BOULDER WINS!"

The audience cheered.

"THE NEXT MATCH! THE BOULDER VERSUS THE FIRE! NATION! MAN!"

The crowd, including a member of team avatar, started booing on the Boulder's new opponent. They cheered up soon enough, when the Boulder beat the shit out of him.

"AND THAT'S THE BOULDER FOR ROUND ONE! WE'VE GOT ANOTHER CHALLENGER TODAY! THE NEXT MATCH IS... THE CATAPULT VERSUS STONEFIST!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"AND THAT'S THE BOULDER FOR ROUND ONE! WE'VE GOT ANOTHER CHALLENGER TODAY! THE NEXT MATCH IS... THE CATAPULT VERSUS THE STONEFIST !"

Yeah, I know. . Why did I tell them my fighting name was Bonebender of all things? Well, it was either that, or Rock Cena... or Batman. And I don't really feel like a Rock Cena. A platform made of - you guessed it - stone rised and lifted me up to the arena. There I was welcomed with cheering audience, and a guy with shit load of tattoos on his upper body.

"I am the Catapult! I WILL CRUSH YOU!" he shouted with his girlish, high pitched voice and the crowds started laughing. I myself tried to not fall down and roll laughing. This dude's voice. His friggin' voice!

When it was made obvious that I won't give anything like a speech, the Catapult guy moved. He swung both his arms down over his head and flung a huge rock at me. I ducked, and the rock flew harmlessly above me. He threw two more rocks, and I evaded both of them with little effort. The Catapult was not strong in any way. This was just too easy.

The Catapult threw two huge rocks at once. I sped in his direction, and jumped over his rocks. I landed in a roll and sprung to my feet only to see another boulder the size of the Hippo fighter. I didn't have the time to dodge, so I did the only thing I could think of. I ran through it.

The audience gasped in surprise when I emerged from the now destroyed rock without a single scratch. I threw the rocks from the smashed boulder at my opponent with my bending. He blocked the numerous projectiles, but he was surprised, out of balance and on defensive. I stomped the ground to raise a few boulders, and punched them at the Catapult. But he caught one of those and threw it back at me. I raised my arm, and a wall appeared to protect me from it. I chopped the wall into three sections, and sent them on the Catapult. He smashed through the first one, got hit with the second, and the third sent him flying out of the ring.

The audience cheered. Up there somewhere was the team avatar, watching the fights.

"STONEFIST WINS!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"THE MATCH BETWEEN THE CHALLENGERS! TWO CAME HERE TO GET THE BELT, AND BOTH WILL GET TO FIGHT THE CHAMPION! BUT BEFORE THAT... THE BOULDER VERSUS STONEFIST!"

The crowds went mad as Aang, Sokka and Katara watched the two fighters take their stances. They had seen both of them display some serious skill, and even if they wouldn't admit it, they were curious who would win. Only Sokka was openly excited about the prospect to the point he was yelling with the crowd.

"Your luck ended, because now you face the Boulder!" The Boulder went again speaking about himself in third person.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Oh, yeah. Someone threw a boulder in my face. Dude." I said, picking up a rock and crushing it "I crush boulders."

"It's on!"

The Boulder stomped the ground and punched a rock at me as I started running at full speed towards him. I ducked under it and he attacked again with the same move. I slowed down and batted the rock away. The Boulder slammed his fist in the ground and a huge column shot up at me from the ground. I smirked. His first mistake. He gave me ammo. I positioned myself behind the column and punched parts of it at the Boulder. He blocked all the shots. I needed to keep this up and not allow him to get a breather. I did several quick jabs, sending fist sized rocks at him. The Boulder raised a wall to protect himself.

An opportunity. I jumped, using my earthbending to basically catapult myself over his wall. As I flew over the wall, I grasped it's top and tore it on the Boulder, who jumped out of way. I landed, and decided to end this. I sent a wave of stone on his feet with a lowkick and punched up. The Boulder went airborne thanks to the column that hit him in his chest when he stumbled forwards. Then I did an axe kick, and a stream of rocks copied the movement and slammed the Boulder back to the ground. I walked to him as he struggled to get up, and with a motion of my arms I sunk him in the ground.

The audience fell silent in surprise.

"THE STONEFIST WINS! THE NEXT MATCH WILL BE THE STONEFIST VERSUS OUR CHAMPION, THE BLIND BANDIT!"

A girl entered the ring. She was fourteen, at most, and around the same height as Aang. And she was Toph as stone.

"So, you're the champion?" I asked.

"Obviously. You're even more of an idiotthan the Boulder!" She laughed.

"...You know what?"

"What, do you wanna bail?"

"...whatever"

And with that Toph assumed a loose stance, starting the fight. I raised a few rocks in the air using only my hands, and attacked. Toph blocked them all before creating a wall behind me and attacking with pillars, angled at my head. I ducked under one and slipped by the second. I smashed the third with a punch, but the fourth hit me and I hit the wall. At this rate, I'm going to lose too quickly.

I let the momentum carry me and fell through the wall, making myself gloves of stone. I pushed in her direction and the wall flew at her. I threw several rocks at her from the ground with my bending, before finally using the stone gloves. I let a stone glove serve me as an ammo pack, and shot several small rocks at Toph with quick jabs, and then I used the other glove. I made it so the stone formed a crude whip of rock, similar to the waterbenders and their tendrils of water, and slammed it into the Blind Bandit from a side. But yet again, she saw it coming and redirected it at me. Shit. That was the only thought that crossed my mind before I sailed out of the ring...

"YOUR WINNER AND STILL THE CHAMPION, THE BLIND BANDIT!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Oh… NO!" Sokka cried out. He wanted the Boulder to win, but when the Boulder fell Sokka was unable to accept that only the best of the best could beat him. Now he had his heart broken for the second time.

"How did she do that?" Katara asked, amazed. She'd never expect that girl to win, not against that one guy who made his way to the top without much effort on his side.

"She waited. And listened!" Perked up smiling Aang.

None of them knew it was Nathan who just nearly won the tournament.

**Okay guys, what do you think? Did you like this chapter? Let me know what you think! You can also send me some suggestions if you want something to happen, and I will consider it. The next time it will be either that fight with Toph vs the earthbenders in the arena, or Nathan travelling again, maybe encountering Iroh and/or Zuko.**

**Also if you want to see some art for this fic, check out my profile on Deviant. The name is MartyMartial**

**Thanks again.**

**Khai**


	15. Chapter 14: Just Like Family

Chapter 14: Just like family

The day after the Earth Rumble Six took place, Aang, Sokka and Katara were walking down the street to the earthbending academy. Only this time they knew who they were searching for, and hoped master Yu or his students could provide the much needed information.

"If we want to find the Blind Bandit, the Earthbending academy is a good place to start." Aang explained as the trio entered the academy grounds once again. They were greeted by a sight of the two rude boys from the day before, practicing their bending techniques in a way Aang couldn't grasp.

"Oh, great." the one with a mohawk spitted out in annoyance "You again."

Katara gave them a look, and the two immediately jumped up in fear. What the flameo did Katara do to them if they react that way, wondered Aang.

"Yeah, I didn't think so." Katara commented, not impressed by the two earthbenders.

"Nicely done." Sokka approved with a smile.

The two boys then looked at Aang, recognising him from the tournament.

"Hey, you're the kid ho beat the Blind Bandit!" Exclaimed one of them excitedly.

"We need to talk to her. You guys know where she lives?"

"The Blind Bandit is a mystery. She shows up to fight, then disappears." The boy in green explained, but Katara didn't believe a single word. She put a hand on Aang's shoulder telling him to let her handle it.

"You're not telling us everything!" She barked at the poor scared boy.

"I-I swear it's true!" the boy defended "Noone knows where she goes or who she really is! If y-you asked about Stonefist..."

"Oh, I know" Aang perked up "That's because we're asking about the wrong person. In my vision I saw a girl in a white dress with a pet flying boar. You know anybody like that?"

"Well, the flying boar is the symbol of the Beifong family. They're the richest people in town, maybe the whole world." One of them said, and the other added: "Y-yeah, but they don't have a daughter!"

"Flying boar is good enough to me. Let's check it out!" Aang decided and the group walked off.

"Yeah, you better leave..." one of the boys muttered.

"I've got my eye on you!" Katara threatened them. Sokka following in suit walking backwards with a layback attitude.

"Watertribe..." he whispered before disappearing behind the wall.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

I was pleased with the results of the tournament. Well, yeah, I did lose. But this one time it wasn't about winning. I wanted to see how much have I learned, and how skilled of an earthbender am I in comparison to your a little bit above average rock thrower. That said, I certainly didn't expect to make it far, let alone nearly win. It's to be expected to lose when facing Toph Beifong, who is likely the most powerful earthbender of her generation. What was not expected was the utter lack of creativity of the other competitors. Aside from the Boulder and the champion herself, I haven't encountered anyone who would use more than two, at most three techniques. I was thinking of the tournament as I made my way through the crowd that was currently at the market. The noon just passed, and the market was once again flooded with people. I was shopping for supplies, namely for food. I had some money left from my previous job, and a few coins as a payment for the fights. As I was standing by a stand with cabbages, I was surprised by someone's hand making contact with my shoulder.

"Hey, we've been looking for you all around the place!" a bulky man with long black hair said "I have an offer for you."

"The Boulder takes issue with this situation! The Boulder won't have this man working with him." the familiar man with a weird wrestling alter-ego said.

"Alright, Xin Fu. Let us ignore that Pebble and go straight to business. What's the deal?" I asked, even though I had a feeling I already knew what would Xin Fu want from me. I wasn't wrong.

"I need you to help me settle the score with the Blind Bandit and that kid." Xin Fu growled, and ignored the Boulder and his bratty rant about how his third person self didn't want me getting involved.

"Oh, what happened?"

"They scammed me, that's what happened! Noone fucks with Xin Fu!" the man shouted. As he did so, he managed to attract several men's attention. Then he spoke quietly again "You won't be unrewarded, of course. Twenty gold coins. That will be yours if you help me."

"...yeah, sure. I'll do it." I answered.

"Good" Xin Fu smiled slyly "Then let us meet at dawn, by the big tree next to the Beifong mansion."

"Right. But before that." I said as Xin Fu was about to leave.

"What is it?" he asked angrily.

"You don't like being scammed. The same goes for me. I want half of the money beforehand." A sick smile formed on my lips. Oh boy. You didn't think you will just use me and not give me a thing, did you?

"..." Xin Fu glared at me angrily. The Boulder did the same thing, and I responder with glaring on my own. We went on glaring, making this a contest of willpower. Finally, Xin Fu gave in.

"Here you go. And do not be late." He warned before the two of them left.

I sighed, and returned to my shopping. As I picked throug the various fruits offered at the market, it hit me. I am going to help Xen Fu capture Toph and Aang. I will have to fight Toph again. And I do not want to fight Aang. I don't want them to go through this shit. After what happened to Huo when he got captured, I was in no hurry to see another friend of mine in chains. I won't stand for any of that! But I can't bail out of it now...

OoOoOoOoOoO

_One ambush later:_

"You think you're so tough! Why don't you come up here so I can smack that grin off your face!" the caged champion shouted.  
We were in the arena again, with Toph Beifong and Aang in the same metal coffins in which I found Bumi in Omashu. There was quite a lot of us, all the competent fighters from the Earth Rumble Six plus Xin Fu, the host.

"I'm not smiling." Xin Fu groaned. He wasn't. His expression was one of an annoyed, angered man. I couldn't help but feel the same way. Toph was spitting insults from the very moment we captured her and Aang. It was funny at first, but it got gradually annoying. Soon it reached the point where I could barely endure it.

""Toph!" A middle aged man wearing expensive clothes shouted from the entrance. Everybody turned in the direction of the voice. There they were. Master Yu, Sokka, Katara and a couple that were Toph's parents, the Beifongs.

"Here's your money. Now let them go!" Sokka put the bag of gold on the floor, and Yu slid it to Xin Fu with his bending. Xin Fu checked the bag, and motioned for us to bring Toph's cage down. Two men took care of it, and Toph was freed. The girl ran to her father. Finally, this whole thing was making me tired.

"What about Aang?"

Oh, right. Something is gonna go wrong, isn't it? If only I could remember what.

"I think the Fire Nation will pay a hefty prize for the avatar. Now, get out of my ring!" Xin Fu growled, showing a wanted poster of the airbender.

Sokka and Katara weren't pleased. Katara prepared to attack with her water and her brother reached for his trusty boomerang. And there goes our cue. The fighters jumped seemingly out of nowhere in the ring. I myself landed just a few feet away from Xin Fu. He was going to pay. I knew he was a sick bastard, but I didn't take him for someone who would make business with the Fire Nation of all people.

"Go. I'll be okay." Aang said, urging his friends to safety. The siblings ran off. This was when they tried to persuade Toph into helping them. I chose this moment to approach Xin Fu.

"You're selling the avatar to the Fire Nation? Are you crazy?"

"That is none of your business. " Xin Fu shot the question down.

"We didn't agree on winning the war for the Fire Lord!" I argued.

"This is none of your concern, but I'll give you ten gold more if it helps to shut your trap."

With that, Xin Fu and the others took their leave. Or they tried to, before a huge rock shot up, blocking their path.  
"Let him go! I beat you all before and I'll do it again!" it was Toph, challenging all of them. All of us.

"The Boulder takes issue wi-"

"OH SHUT UP FOR ONCE!"

With that, all the fighters aside from Xin Fu and me charged at the Blind Bandit. Sokka and Katara were about to attack, but the girl stopped them.

"They're mine!" Toph growled. I knew that line. Huo said the same thing before brutalizing Hahn. This was going to be quick. Toph stomped and rose her arms, covering the majority of the arena in a dust cloud. Then she walked in.

Outside of the cloud stood Xin Fu and I. We eyed each other, searching for a weakness, for something to exploit.

"So, you want to work for the Fire Nation." I stated.

"I want the money, nothing else."

"I see."

"...What? Changed your mind?" his face sported a confident smile.

"I'll make sure your funeral is paid for!" I spat and lunged, the rock copying my movement. Xin Fu blocked the rock, only to face two more. He managed to smash through them. I stomped and kicked the ground. Two pillars shot up, one before me and the second flying at Xin Fu's head. As Xin Fu ducked, I jabbed several times and sent discs of my column at him. Xin Fu managed to evade those, and he finally attacked. He went for the basic stomp the ground, punch the rock. He threw fiive rocks in close succession, and I created a wall. All the rocks bounced off the wall, and I slashed the wall into three sections, sending them all on Xin Fu. He managed to evade the first and smash through the second. The third hit and the host sailed a few feet before he landed.

I walked to him, my mind set on finishing him off. But before I attacked, A block of earth shot out, sending Xin Fu flying out of the ring.

"Not bad." Toph said, grinning "But I'm still way better than you!"

"Nathan? What are you doing here?" Katara froze when she recognised me. There they were, the whole Gaang, staring.

"I'm...uhhhh...standing?"

"Not like that. Why are you in Gaoling? And what on earth are you doing in the arena with them?" Katara yelled, pointing at the beated up fighters.

"...you know each other?" Toph muttered, looking at us with clear question in her blind eyes.

"Yeah, it's a long story. The thing is, they were supposed to wait for me in Omashu, but noone, I repeat NOONE was there except for the Fire Nation princess." I glared at Katara. She had no right to be so pissed off.

"Hey, it's good to see you!" Aang appeared "Hey why didn't you tell us you were an earthbender?"

"I just found out."

"Hey, where is that friend of yours?" Katara asked, now rather calm.

"He... Didn't make it. I was too slow." I looked down in shame. I've managed to push the guilt away for so long, but it still hurt. I was there, I had my sword, and I failed. Silence took over.

"It is not your fault. You did what you could." Aang tried to help.

"Yeah."

We headed back. Noone questioned my presence. We reached Appa the fluffy boi, and I loaded my things on his saddle while the Gaang and the Beifongs went back inside the mansion. Not long after, Aang and the siblings came back to Appa, alone. Aang looked sad and disappointed, and so did Katara. The one who didn't take it that bad was Sokka, who was sitting in Appa's saddle and admiring the champion's belt, reminding Nathan of himself when he admired his brother's military uniform as a kid. Oh, good old days.

"Don't worry, we will find you an earthbending teacher." Katara said as she and Aang looked at the city of Gaoling. "There are plenty of amazing earthbenders out there."

"Not like her." Aang replied sadly. He was right, Toph was one of a kind. Noone could fight the way she did and as such she was the best person to teach Aang.

"If she doesn't show up, I can teach you what I know." I offered.

"Thank you." Aang smiled.

Aang and Katara climbed on the bison. The Avatar gave last sad look to the city. He wanted her to teach him. He was so set on her as a teacher that he didn't consider what would happen if she refused... or if she couldn't go.

A small feminine figure appeared, running in our direction. Aang was shocked by her appearance, but the shock was outweighted by his happiness.

"Toph! What are you doing here?"

"Dad changed his mind! He said I was free to travel the world!"

The siblings and me looked at each other, having a good idea on what was going on.

"Well, we better get outta here, just in case he changes his mind again." Sokka said smiling.

"You're gonna be a great teacher Toph." Aang smiled. The shift of his mood was obvious. Just a while ago he was all sad, and now he was almost glowing with content and happiness.

"Speaking of which, I've got something to show you." Toph said, and Aang jumped down. The moment his feet touched the ground he was catapulted by Toph's bending.

"And I want the belt back." She said, extending her hand. Sokka just took it off and threw it down to Toph. Well, on Toph. So on toph of Aang getting catapulted, Toph got hit with that belt in the head.

"Sorry." Sokka said in a way that suggested he was not sorry at all.

**And cut! Here we go again *insert the stuff I always say***

**So, the next chapter will be the chase. Nathan is now an official part of the group, but I don't see him travelling with them all the time just yet. He will leave the group one or two episodes from now, since I have this plan for him to encounter the Kyoshi again, now without the main Suki. Some of you are probably able to see where this s going. But before that Nathan is going to visit the Spirit Library, and take part in fighting Azula during the chase. **

**Also, Nathan's skill comes mainly from his creativity and fighting skill in general. His eatrhbending is still rather weak in terms of raw power, and that is the reason why he tends to use hand sized rocks and discs instead of throwing huge chunks of stone. **

**Any suggestions are welcome, don't forget to review.**

**Thanks,**

**Khai**


	16. Chapter 15: Chasing the Girls

Chapter 15: Chasing the Girls

Nathan:

We have finally landed. It was a long day. We haven't rested ever since Toph decided to join us on our world-saving trip. Granted, all of us were pretty tired. As we were unpacking our stuff, Toph stopped.

"Hey, you guys picked great campsite! The grass is so soft." Toph sounded pleased. She sounded so happy that I, in fact, decided not to tell her it was no grass, but fluffy boi's fur.

"That's not grass, Appa's shedding." Sokka made clear.

"Oh, gross." Katara joined complaining. I snickered at her antics. Seriously, they entered Omashu through... You know what? Forget that, I might as well enjoy the Appa carpet we have.

"That's not gross, it's just a part of spring!" Aang said "You know, trees grow, flowers blooming, aaaand Appa gets a new coat!"

"Ah, the beauty of spring..." Katara... was that sarcasm? That was the moment Appa wisely chose to groan, cough and make his shed-fur fall on us as snow. "Stop Appa sto-!" Katara urged before breaking into an uncontrolable coughing fit.

"It's not that bad Katara." Sokka said dramatically before turning to show us the giant wig, almost taller than he was.  
"And a great beard!" Aang said, jumping down from Appa. Then the two boys started laughing while pointing at each other. Hmmmm... I got an Idea... With Katara paying attention to the two, I snuck out. I sneaked around Appa and behind them while preparing my furry suit.

"Excuse me, does anyone have a razor? 'Cause I got some hairy pits!" Toph joined the charade, and more laughter erupted.

My turn. I emerged behind them, all covered in the fur. Katara screamed in terror, and the others turned.

"It's the giant snow monkey!" Aang shouted and threw me into Appa with a gust of air. The fur came off, and I laughed. The group joined me, and even Katara giggled. We then proceeded to set up the camp. Sokka took care of the tents, Aang went collecting berries and nuts since the only food we had had it's share of meat in it, I was collecting fire wood and Katara... was about to prepare dinner when she took it upon herself to make Toph do something more than sit and do nothing.

It was easy to see what would happen. Sooner or later, the girls would argue. And I don't want to see sugar queen yelling, so I went a bit away, rose a column of solid rock as a replacement for a punching bag and proceeded to train my knuckles off.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Later that night, I was awoken by none other than Toph, shouting.

"There is something coming to us!"

"What is is?" Aang massaged his temples.

"It feels like an avalanche, but not like an avalanche."

"Your powers of perception are frightening." Sokka commented, speaking my mind. It didn't matter though. I already knew from the show what it was.

It was the train-thing with the three hotwomen.

¨"Lets flameo the fuck out of here." I decided, and we climbed on Appa and flew away. As Appa rose above the trees, we got to see the vehicle pursuing us.

"What is that thing..." Katara thought aloud.

We flew as far as we could before we landed again. As we jumped down from the bison's saddle, I took it on myself to organise them.

"See you guys in the mo-"

"Toph, no." Beifong stopped and gave me a murder look. I went on "The more time we get, the easier will the potential fight be."

Toph glared for a few moments. She didn't get why she should help anyone.

"Fine." Toph gave in and stomped the ground, making tents for all of us.

"Thanks, champ."

With this we went to sleep again. But I couldn't fall asleep. No, Katara had to walk around my tent and bitterly rant how Toph doesn't respect her and..

"..and why did she listen to him of all people? It's not like he is the boss! We barely even know him! Uggghhh!"

"Hey Katara?" I called out, annoyed. The sound of her walking around stopped, as did her speech. She probably pissed her pakra realizing I was awake the whole time.

"Y-yes?" She managed to say after a brief pause.

"Would you shut up and go sleep? Please?"

"THE THING IS BACK!" Toph interrupted, alarming all of us.

"How far away is it?" Sokka yawned. "Maybe we can close our eyes jus' for a few minutes."

"Dude. There is smoke. Just next to us."

We loaded on Appa, again. The poor bison had to carry us again. This time, they would lose us, Aang made sure of that when he made Appa speed up and fly over some mountains. After an hour of speed flight, we landed on a cliff. Nobody bothered with tents this time, and we all simply lied down and slept.

"Oh, don't tell me." Sokka voice what we all thought.

"But that's impossible!" Aang argued.

"I can feel 'em with my own two feet!" Toph confirmed our fears. Soon enough we spotted the dreaded train-thing making it's way to us.

"The fuck is wrong with them? That shit-train has no breaks!" I growled in frustration. "We should get out of here. And fast."

"I say we wait and face them. Who knows, maybe they're friendly." Aang hoped.

"Always the optimist."

The train stopped, and three shirshu appeared from the vagon. They charged at us.

"Those are the girls from Omashu!" Katara noted.

"The princess? Here? NOW? Oh come on.." I complained. The girl was trouble. Cold-blooded, calculating, genius, firebending prodigy. I knew who the two other girls were. The bubbly one was an acrobat, and a chi blocker. Insanely hard to hit, and able to paralyze people with a good strike. The second girl was Mai. Zuko's hoe. She loves knives, and hates the world with passion.

"We know who they are, now let's get moving, can we?" Sokka rushed to Appa, and we followed. Toph raised a wall behind us in order to stop them, but it only bought us a little time. It was obliterated with lightning as we flew away.

"You know, I still think we could've taken them." Toph said.

"Are you crazy? The blue fire and lightning are bad enough, but the last time we saw them, one of them did something that took my bending away. That was scary." Katara explained.

"...Wow... And... What's she like?" I asked, only half joking.

Katara looked at me as if I was insane, as did Aang. Sokka just snickered. But Toph's reaction was golden. She started laughing. Not the arogant, amused laugh she showed us before. This was genuine laugh of someone encountering something hilarious.

After that we flew in silence, excluding the one time Sokka panicked because of the sunrise. We landed, and Katara's patience lost to her anger. She took it out on Toph, and a little on me too. While I spaced out so it didn't even bother me, Toph took it on a rather personal level. The earthbending teacher for Aang left. Aang realised what happened, devastated. But we needed to make the best out of what we had. So we came up with a plan. After pointing up that Toph was right on how they managed to track us, we decided to wash Appa. Aang then wanted us to fly away while he would make a fake trail for the hotwomen chasing us. We agreed on the plan, except for one thing.

"You're not going alone, Aang." I said.

"But you need to get away and I'll catch up to you." Aang was about to say more, but I glared him to silence.

"No, I'm going too. I won't watch another friend of mine die."

"You'll have to keep up." Aang gave in "We can't have them realise it's a fake one."

I nodded. We had a plan. And it would work out. And if something went to shit, I would be there to drag Aang out of it.  
So Aang left, flying on his glider, and I ran off after him while the siblings flew away on Appa.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Aang flew pretty far, up to a deserted village. I arrived just a moment after he sat, in the middle of a road, meditating. It helped him regain some energy. I think. Aang stirred and opened his eyes.

"Hey Nate." Aang waved "You're here sooner than I thought."

"Yeah, don't let me interrupt your meditation stuff. I'll be over there, preparing a little surprise." I said and left for one of the ruined houses.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Meanwhile with Ty Lee:

"We made it! We're safe!" Sokka cheered, and Katara joined her brother. But Ty Lee and Mai didn't slow down, instead they led their shirshus in the river. Katara shrugged off the shock and sent a powerful blast of water. Ty Lee jumped off of her mount just in time, landed on the shore and immediately lunged at Katara. Meanwhile Sokka faced Mai and her knives. He managed pretty well, but the girls changed their targets. Ty Lee effortlessly paralyzed Sokka, who tried to attack with his club. First came his right arm, then the left arm. Sokka refused to stop and tried to kick her and Ty Lee paralyzed his leg too. Sokka lost balance and fell head first on Ty Lee, who punched him in the head.

"Good try, but no." Sokka provoked as Ty Lee shook her palm in pain.

Katara was now pinned down to a tree, and Sokka somehow managed to jump to her.

"Hey Katara, how you doin'?" He said with his face planted on the ground.

"I thought when me and Ty Lee finaly caught you guys, it would be more exciting. Oh well, victory is boring." Mai complained disappointedly.

"I can't believe he asked us about you..." Katara muttered, but before any of the girls could ask what she meant by that, they were flung of by Appa.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

Fast towards a few hours, to the sunset to be precise, Aang was still meditating, and I had scouted the whole place and set up a few nasty surprises. You know, like stone spikes to be flung, some pits to slow the enemy down, and rock collumns for ammunition.  
As I was sitting on a rooftop of a house, I spotted a single person on a shirshu. The princess. She rode through the village, following the trail we made straight to the meditating monk. She jumped down. The sound of her doing so got the kid's attention.

"Alright, you caught up with me." Aang said "Now who are you and what do you want?"

"You mean you haven't guessed?" She stated, her hand on her hips "You don't see the family resemblance? Here's a hint."  
The sixteen years old girl covered half of her face with her hand, mimicking the two years older boy I met a few times.

"I must find the avatar to restore my honor." She then waited for Aang's reaction, but got none. "It's okay, you can laugh. It's funny."

"So what now?" Aang said, unsure.

"Now? Now, it's over! You're tired and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you." The princess' normal tone was exchanged for one of arrogance, confidence. One for making threats.

"I'm not running." Aang exhaled. The girl was pleased to hear this.

They stood in silence, waiting for the other one to make the first move.

"Do you really want to fight me?" Azula provoked.

"Yes. I really do." The boy appeared, coming through a house next to the two.

"I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu." the princess chuckled. This was the time I'd make an entrance. I produced a stone mask in a mortal combat style and put it on. Then I made the one step over the roof, and landed in a crouch.

"Zuzu? That's what she calls you?" I straightened myslef.

"You?" Zuko shouted and everyone fell into a bending stance.

"Back off, so I don't have to kill you..." I warned the prince.

"No, you back off. The avatar is mine." Zuko spat back.

"I'm not going anywhere." Azula smirked, making fun of us.

Then we stood again, motionless. I let my eyes fall on the new person. Azula. She was pretty, yes, but that was not what interested me. She had fit physique and a perfect stance, and her eyes observed the battlefield the same way mine did. She was going to be a problem. Then Zuko. He had changed since our last meeting at the pole. Now he had hair, and he certainly lacked the air of overconfidence he displayed before. I didn't want to fight him as he would join us later, but he won't probably give me a choice in the matter.

Azula was the first to move. She attacked with a fire blast, and Zuko sailed into a wall. Aang turned and started running. I sprung in action, charging at the firebending prodigy without bending. She didn't expect that, and even though she jabbed some fire I managed to reach her. Azula retreated, ducking under my hook straight in a roundhouse kick. She stumbled back, but I was now attacked by none other than Zuko, who punched fire at me repeatedly. I slipped between his attacks and moved closer to him. Zuko threw a huge blast of fire at me in frustration, and I jumped over him, using my bending to boost the move.

Zuko blinked as I landed behind him. But he had to defend himself from Azula now, who threw another blue firebolts at him. Zuko dispersed them, and immediately turned to attack me. A fiery arc from Zuko missed me as I spun, and not even his other two fire hooks hit me. I ducked under the second one and lunged for Zuko's legs. I lifted him and threw him into a house again.

That bought me time to find Azula. Luckily it proved rather easy. The girl in question was attacking Aang at the rooftop. It looked like a deadly dance, when they matched their moves in elegance and precision. I made my way under the rooftop. Trap time.

I collapsed the roof when I heard them above me, just next to the edge of the roof. The two of them fell through, Aang first. The boy maneuvered himself on the floor and ran out. Azula fell, shouting. I moved the wall that hit her and sent her flying to my floor while Aang was already outside. Azula kipped up with a fire kick. I dodged it and shot two rocks at her with my bending. She weaved between them, and jumped to side in order to avoid a column that erupted from the floor. I smirked, as she was exactly where I wanted her. I attacked with rocks again, but I slipped an extra low kick and crescent kick. Azula didn't see the stream of rock coming, and she yelped in pain when it hit her hard. Her body smashed in the wall. The princess struggled to her feet, and I shot forward. I tackled her and ran through the wall.

We hit the round three meters below where we were before, and I applied a hold I learned from my brother on Azula. The triangle choke. Azula panicked. This was the first time she was outdone by anyone. She was losing air. She struggled to breathe, but my legs were wrapped tightly around her neck. The princess tried to free herself for some time to no avail. But when it looked like she will submit, Azula let out a breath of fire, making me let go of her and roll away. I was lucky to not get burned. I kipped up. Azula was breathing heavily, retreating. I moved in her direction, and I wasn't alone. There was Aang, Katara, Sokka, Iroh, Toph and even Zuko. We cornered her.

"Look at that! Traitors and enemies, working together. Alright, I surrender." Azula said out of blue "I know when to fight and when I'm outmatched."

Noone believed her, but Iroh looked at us to check if anyone did. Azula jabbed, hitting Iroh with a blue bolt of fire. We all threw all we had at her in response. The place where she stood exploded, and when the smoke set down, the princess was away.  
Katara approached Zuko, who kneeled by his uncle. The scarred teen was desperate.

"I can help." Katara began and reached out to Iroh, only to be stopped by Zuko.

"Leave..." he growled, more of a cornered animal than a human.

"But I am a healer, I can heal yo-"

"LEAVE!" Zuko yelled, swinging his arm widely and creating fire. Katara backed away sadly. I saw all that, and stopped her from leaving. I gestured to her to wait here, and she nodded. With that I approached the prince myself.

"Zuko." I said to get his attention. It worked, and the exile glared at me. There were tears in his eyes.

"Leave us alone." He said again.

"He needs help." I pointed at the injured man. His wound looked bad. No internal bleeding or permanent damage, but it still needed to be treated.

"I can do it myself. NOW LEAVE!"

"You know, you owe me." I stated, and Zuko looked up again, surprised. "I could've let the pirate stab you. And in the North it was the same. The least you can do is to let us save this one man."

"But I can-"

"No buts, prince. Your uncle will be treated. Then, we'll leave if that's what you want." I offered. I got him to listen thanks to the fact that I did technically save his life. And Zuko wants his uncle to live. He's the only family he has.

Zuko finally gave in and nodded.

"One night. After that, you leave."

OoOoOoOoOoO

With Azula:

Azula returned to her companions. She was alone, and she definitely looked worse to wear. The girls noticed, and exchanged surprised looks. It isn't everyday you see Azula beat up. One does not simply keep up with the princess, that was how the saying went back in the Fire Nation.

"Hey Azula, you're back!" Ty Lee rushed to her friend "What happened?"

"There was one more of them." the princess said, angry.

"Oh, that's a surprise." Ty Lee said. She did recall the watertribe girl saying something about someone asking about them.

"Maybe it's the guy the water girl mentioned!" Ty Lee perked up.

There was a moment of silence as Azula eyed the bubbly acrobat before her, and she was shocked by what came after.

"Was he cute?"

**And here you go! Another chapter from canon, only with Nathan in it! How did you like it? I hope everyone was in character. If you have any suggestions, ideas or even theories, be sure to tell me in reviews or in PMs. Anyway, next comes the Bitter Work episode. Nathan will finally receive some real Earthbending lessons along with Aang, and you might even find out what happened to Onyx!**

**Thanks again guys, until next time.**

**Khai**


	17. Chapter 16: Serpent's Venom

Chapter 16: Serpent's Venom

With Rangi:

Rangi was lost in memories as he made his way from Gaoling. He was beat up, his body was sore. The pain in his ribs was yet to go away, and his left eye was still as useful as an earthbender in a metal coffin. He remembered how he felt when he came to.

_His head and torso both had felt as if he was crushed by an avalanche. Rangi shook his head to clear it. Where was he? What happened? And why was he in pain every time he breathed in and out? He raised his hands to his face. But he froze in pain when fingers touched the skin. Rangi looked at his hands and cursed. The last time he checked, his face was not all bloody. Then it came to him. They were laying a trap for a man. They set up a camp with the captured criminal to lure another one in. That part of the plan was more or less a success. What followed, not so much. Rangi was to guard the commander, who was certain his twenty good men would subdue the lone swordsman. They didn't._

Rangi remembered the bloody evening as if it was yesterday. The rain started falling from the sky, slowly at first. Soon Rangi was all soaked. The water made it's way down his forehead, over his blind eye and down his cheek. It only reminded him of his failure. Rangi felt like crying, but he only gritted his teeth and moved on further. He couldn't afford to waste time, not when his prey was so close to him.

_Commander Shang was already waiting in his office when Rangi arrived. Rangi had an idea on why he was summoned to the commander. He entered the office, and stood face to face with a man of military looks and graying hair. Also, the commander's arm was bandaged and in straps._

_"Onyx." The man said, emotionless "Sit down, we have a lot to discuss."_

_And they had. Rangi couldn't help but feel for the soldier when he told him of his mission. Shang was to capture and execute the Jade Dragon. The Jade Dragon. How many times did Rangi mutter the name in anger. He agreed to help the commander capture the martial artist, and even to help him get revenge for the arm._

That was months ago. Now, the Jade Dragon was dead, and yet his legacy tormented the assassin. The Dragon's legacy, a man as strong as rock and agile as a tiger. He came out of nowhere, and yet he and the Jade Dragon acted as if they grew up together. Maybe they did. And now the Dragon was dead, and the Tiger continued fight a battle that couldn't be won. Rangi recalled the look of fear the Jade Dragon had when Rangi snatched the spear before it hit Zhao back at the North Pole. He felt invincible when he defeated his rival. And all that confidence disappeared soon after.

The Tiger arrived, and slaughtered all twenty Fire Nation soldiers. He stood there, watching Rangi as a predator does when it waits for it's prey to move. That scene haunted Rangi every single night ever since. Not the bodies all across the camp. Not the blood. Just the look Rangi received before he got nearly killed. But why did it have to happen? What led him there, aside from series of bad choices? Yes, that's right.

It was his brother.  
Rangi used to be son of a noble. His house had little influence, but at least they led a good, comfortable life in the main land. Rangi was raised as the next head of a house as an eldest. Traditionally, the nobles arranged their children's marriages beforehand. It was more of a politics matter than anything else. But seeing as competent of a firebender Rangi was at the age of ten, rivalled only by the princess herself in the speed they developed in, Rangi's father foolishly mentioned an idea to marry Rangi off to the princess. The Fire Lord denied, of course. In a fit of rage that someone had the guts to propose such an idea, the Fire Lord killed Rangi's father in an agni kai. Then, Ozai turned to the future assassin. He torn of his title and his wealth. But that wasn't enough, was it? So the boy had to leave the capital, leave all he had ever known and become a pawn for the Fire Lord in his games. Namely killing all who would disagree with his decisions. The only thing he was grateful for was the training he received. Still, he had to kill for the man who destroyed his own family. Rangi was rewarded with freedom from this life a few years ago. He had all the reason to bring Ozai down, so why didn't it happen? His brother, who was held as a hostage in the Capital, was the reason.

It pissed Rangi off. This whole situation did. The Avatar appeared, but only after Rangi lost everything he cared for. Rangi felt betrayed, by the Fire Lord, by his nation, by the Avatar. By the world. Why did the Avatar not appear sooner? Why did his father have to talk about the princess? That power hungry bastard couldn't help himself. But that didn't matter. Rangi, no, Onyx, abandoned his past long ago. It was no use dwelling on it.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hours after the sunset, the tired assassin arrived at a clearing by the river. There was a campsite, he knew that from the faint smell of smoke in the air. Soon he noticed the campfire, which was burning not a while ago.

"Freeze." Onyx turned at the commanding female voice, torn away from his thoughts. But there was noone to be seen. Onyx cursed and touched his scars above his blind eye. If only he didn't let that man wreck his face. He was able to see, at first. But as the time passed, his sight in his left eye worsened, until he saw no more than shades. That was the state he was in now, being a half blind man in the middle of a night, being about to be ambushed.  
_Just. _  
_Fucking. _  
_Perfect._

But Onyx won't just make it easy for them. His eyes rushed through his surroundings, searching for a slightest sign of someone's presence. The moonlight would help him. Any movement, no matter how small and every glimmer of a weapon would give the ambushers away if he had his eyes both functional. So, he listened. And he was rewarded when he heard a branch snap behind him.  
Onyx immediately spun around, throwing a blast of white hot fire at the ambusher, who just neutralized it with a flick of her wrist. Onyx was about to charge with his fist alight with fire, but stopped when he heard her allies flank him.

"A firebender? Who are you?" asked the same girl who he attacked before.

"_Who are you?_" He spat.

"Oh my, that's just rude." A cheery girl's voice said from behind him.

"We're asking the questions here! Who are you and what are you doing here?" the bossy one said again, lighting a flame on her palm.

"_...princess fucking Azula?_" He froze, shocked.

**And cut! Here we go! In this chapter, you get to see how your favorite assassin's doing since we last saw him. You thought he died? Oh no, no no no no NO FUCK NO! He is very much alive and kicking! And I know it's kinda short, this chapter, but there's the fact I'm bad at writing angst, so sorry guys. I hope I've managed to establish some more of his character. So, tell me what you think!**

**Next time the Gaang will visit the Spirit Library! **

**Thanks again guys.**

**Khai**

**Also, one more thing, I'm currently thinking of writing another fic, this one would be set in the Game of Thrones! Do you think I should do it?**


	18. Chapter 17: High in the Air

**Please go to the bottom first, the notes are important this time! Thx!**

Chapter 17: High in the Air

It was two weeks after the Gaang left Zuko alone. They left on good terms, and it could be said that they were close to being friends with the said prince. Zuko was, well, hostile as hell at first, but he was slowly warming up. Then there was that one fact Sokka totally hated. He was quieter than usual, grumpy and easy to piss off. Wait. The last one wasn't an exception. The only person who didn't really care was Nathan. And Toph, but she was still somewhat off. What was it that made the whole group feel weird, aside from presence of someone who hunted them across the globe? It was Zuko's behavior around Katara. He was tense, as if he didn't know what to do. She tried to talk to him a few times, but to no avail. Zuko and Nathan agreed to spar together in order to get rid of the stress. It worked, at least a little.

On the contrary to what Nathan and Zuko agreed on, they spent together as much as a week, making all Zuko's actions - or reactions - the more obvious. The poor boy hadn't been around a girl of his age in... well, ages.

After they parted ways the Gaang found a valley that somehow resembled Grand Canyon, only it was waaaaay smaller. Toph then proceeded to educate her student, or as Katara called it "Aang crushing", which was quite accurate. Nathan was mainly training on his own, mainly unarmed non-bending combat. Even if he did somehow become a bender, his fists and feet were what he relied on the most. When Toph wasn't practicing her Aang-crushing, she and Nathan were competing in various forms of earthbending. Needless to say, Nathan rarely won. However thanks to them sharing their experience they were able to come up with new ways to use earthbending. It mainly showed in new techniques and moves, no major changes in one's style.

While Toph's cards consisted mostly of taking advantage with her 360 vision, perfect timing and predicting her opponent's movements, Nathan moved in more predator-like fashion than any other bender, being both agile and strong, and hard to read on top of that.

Sokka was mostly away from the camp, hunting, or laughing at Aang. Or on basically anyone who would mess up. It was pretty funny though. Aang was still somewhat nervous around Katara, so that happened a lot.

After some time they were on their way again, and eventually the group arrived at a little settlement by the infamous dessert. Long story short, they entered a bar, Nathan beat up some thugs, then bumped into a profesor from Ba Sing Se. Together with him they ventured out to the dessert in search for the legendary Wan Shi Tong's Library. Some puns were told, the library was found and all of them except for Toph and surprisingly Nathan went in. It was a surprise for them because of the fact that they knew Nathan was quite excited about the whole thing. Before Aang, Sokka, Katara and the prof went inside, Nathan took Sokka away from the group and asked for a favor. He hadn't told anyone what it was even though Katara was set on finding out and Aang was curious, too.

When the group emerged again, they found Toph slowing down the library from sinking, Nathan cleaning his fists from blood with a rag and a band of unconscious Sand folk. Before they left, Nathan decided he wanted to take a plant with himself as a souvenir...

And that led to...

_"La da da-da-da-da!"_

Katara watched the horizon angrily as Appa flew them in direction of the Earth Kingdom capital.

_"La! Da-Daa-a! La-da-da-da! La-da-da-da! La da-da-da-a!"_

Aang was smiling as he started humming the melody himself.

_"I was gonna clean my room..."_

_"Until I got high."_

_"Ooooh!"_

_"I was gonna find the broom-" _

_"-But then I got high!"_

The two, no, three idiots in the back of Appa's saddle sung in a drunk/high manner. Katara considered it hilarious at first, until she realized that they drunk from the cactus.

_"La da da-da-da-da!"_

_"My room is still messed up, and I know why-y!"_

_"Yeah hey!"_

_"Cause I got high! Be-cause I got high, BECAUSE I GOT HI-IGH!"_

Katara was done at this point. She pulled out her sleeping bag and hid from her friends in it. Instead of being spiteful she fell deep in thoughts. When she and the two boys came out of the library, they found dozen beat up sandbenders. Katara couldn't help but think Nathan knew they were coming and decided to wait for them so they wouldn't do - what exactly?

But no, that isn't possible, she thought. He couldn't have known. It's not like he's a fortuneteller. Right? He cannot know what is going to happen, right? _Right?_

_"I messed up my entire life, because I got high."_

_"And now I'm sleeping on the sidewalk and I know why-y!"_

_"Why man?"_

_"Cause I got high. Because I git high, BECAUSE I GOT HI-IGH!"_

No, he can't.

Speaking of fortunetellers... Aunt Wu told Katara she was to marry a powerful bender. There she was now, travelling with two of them. Aang was the Avatar, basically the most powerful bender in the world. He was funny, cheerful and optimistic. And he had tattoos. All girls like guys with tattoos... Then there was Nathan. He was certainly a natural, but he still took his bending only as another weapon. He was taller than Sokka, broader and overall stronger. She was yet to see him shirtless, but she would've bet he was shredded as hell. Still, he was kind of an idiot sometimes.

_"They took my whole paycheck, and I know why-y!"_

_"Why MAN?"_

_"Cuz I got high! Becuz I git high, Because I got HI-IGH!"_

Like, a lot.

_"La da da-da-da-da!"_

...yeah...

Then music she never heard before started playing.

_-In this drunk arcade, you know that we gonna play-_  
_-In this drunk arcade drinking till we pixellate-_

"I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT! IT SURVIVED ALL THAT SHIT!"

The music was coming out of a small black... box? Brick? Nathan was holding.  
But where Katara was puzzled the rest of them were dancing (with Aang still driving).

This went on for several hours and noone in the group batted an eye. In fact, even Katara joined. The music was fast, foreign. Nathan called it a remix. Not that they knew what it was, but they didn't really care at this point.

They once passed a lone ostrich horse rider. If they stopped to look on him, they would notice his face, namely the scars that made one of his eyes blind.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Azula, May and Ty Lee rode their reptilian mounts in direction of Ba Sing Se. The sun was descending behind the horizon, leaving the sky blood-red in appearance. They would soon make their camp, but for now they wanted to go as far as possible.  
While Mai and Ty Lee got over their last fight in matter of a day or two, shrugging off any effects it had on them, Azula had trouble doing so. It was understandable. She fought master firebenders, master earthbenders, and she bested them all. She was unbeaten, the prodigy. Then, two weeks sixteen days ago, it went south for Azula for the first time. She was beaten. By a nameless earthbending prick. That man was an enigma. He came out of nowhere, joined the Avatar and fought in a way she had never seen before.

"Hey Azula! Look!" Ty Lee woke Azula from her half slumber.

"What is i-" Azula froze mid-sentence as she heard the wild, tribal sounding strange music. It was coming from the air, above them.

"The Avatar!" Azula growled.

_"Say fuck it before we kick the bucket, life's too short to not go for broke!"_ Was the last thing she heard before the bison was too far to follow...

**Aaaand cut! How did you like this one chapter? I'm sorry for the wait, but as I said before, I've just passed my finals and now I have to prepare for the entrance exams for Uni. **

**I know the songs are weird when written down but I couldn't think of any other way how to write music in a fic. **

**The songs are: **

**Because I got high - Afroman**

**Drunk Arcade - Bombs Away**

**Berzerk - Eminem**

**!-If you feel like it, I'd advise to play the Because I got high song for the atmosphere while reading.-!**

**Again, tell me what you think in the reviews and/or PMs.**

**Thanks again,**

**Khai**


	19. Chapter 18: Pass On It

Chapter 18: Pass On It

"WATAHBENDINBOMB!" Katara jumped into the water pool the group was currently camping by.

Team Avatar made their way out of the desert pretty quickly thanks to Appa, and decided this place was as good as any for them to take a rest. They finally recovered from the effects of cactus juice. Well, mostly. Katara was still totes out of it, and in turn she annoyed the rest of them. Mainly Sokka, who was currently trying to ignore her as he was reviewing the maps he stole from the Library. Katara hit the water, which in turn completely soaked her brother and his maps and sent Aang the ice cube flying out of the water.

"Sure, five thousand years old maps from the Spirit Library, juuuust splash water on them." Sokka complained while Appa groaned in pleasure. The big furball didn't like all the heat really.

Katara giggled, extracted the water from the scrolls only to splash it on Sokka's head. The poor boy fell off the rock he sat on, straight into the pool. Aang, Katara, Toph and even soaked Sokka gathered around the map to discuss their next course of action.

"So, you figured out where we gonna go next?" Aang asked, and Sokka pointed his finger on the map.

"We just got out of desert, so we have to be around here. And we need to go to Ba Sing Se which is here. Normally we'd have to go through this little narrow thingy here, but Appa can fly us there. You can! Of course you can!" Sokka proceeded to cherish their trusty fluffy boi Appa.

"About Appa..." Aang began the topic he and Sokka tried to evade as much as possible. See, as Katara was the only person who questioned Nathan and his sudden interferances whenever things went south... Well, as she got high on the cactus juice too she was keen on sharing her thoughts with them. Sokka wanted to dismiss the thought, but considering what Nathan asked him to do when they went to the library he couldn't do just that.

_"Sokka, I need you to find something on the spirit world. Namely about the outworlders or planeswalkers. I'd go there myself but I have a feeling there will be trouble coming after us, so I'm staying here." Nathan told him, nearly whispering._

_"Uhhh..." Sokka said, not getting what was happening "Sure!"_

What he found was quite the surprise. Not only there was several things on the Outworlders and planeswalking, but he peeked in the books just to see what it was about. He certainly didn't expect to read of people who were summoned here by the spirits as their champions for unknown reasons. One of those was supposed to be a man going by the name of Kiro, a legendary martial artist who was the one to unite the Earth Kingdom for the first time. These people had only few things in common, but those they did... First off, none of them knew of their bending until their teens, mostly even later. They all were capable warriors and left major impact on this world.

"The Sandbenders... they would take him, wouldn't they?"

"You don't know that Aang." Sokka said.

"But Nathan knew they were coming." Aang protested, and to be honest Sokka felt the exact same way. They all did feel confused.

"For all we know he could've just expected them to go after us. They did give us trouble at the bar before, remember?" Sokka ended the discussion.

There was no way Nathan could see the future. It just wasn't possible.

"He can kno-who I marry..." Katara muttered in a half drunk manner...

"Really? You're concerned about that?" Sokka yelled.

The sound of Sokka yelling did reach Nathan who was absorbed in his new book. He decided he wasted enough time already, put it away and made his way to the group.

"Who's concerned about what?" Nathan asked, wondering what happened while he was away. It was Toph who decided to explain.

"It's Katara and her stupid fortune. She's wondering who she's gonna marry, and I bet it's gonna be Zu-hmmmmm!" She didn't finish the sentence as Katara covered her mouth and started yelling.

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"

"She's still high, isn't she.." Nathan gave Sokka 'the look'. Sokka nodded. Katara was indeed still high as fuck.

Later that day they met a couple of refugees, a man and a woman. The woman was pregnant. Aang agreed to fly them to Full Moon Bay.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"MY CABBAGES!"

That was the one thing that made the whole first impression for Team Avatar.

"NEXT!" the woman ordered.

Aang stepped forward, ignoring the fear he felt. "Um, two tickets to Ba Sing Se, please."

"Passports!"

"Uhhh, noone told us we had to have passports. You guys have yours?" He turned to the couple, who searched for them only to find out their passports were gone.

After that, Toph took her chance and got them the tickets.

"Allllright we scammed that lady good!" Sokka cheered. Stupid Sokka, way to rat us out thought Nathan. He was about to slap Sokka's back to remind him to shut it, but te water tribesman was grabbed by a girl in a security uniform before he got the chance.  
"Tickets and passports please!" She commanded angrily as Sokka watched her wide-eyed.

"I-is there a problem?"

"Yeah, I've got a problem with you." the girl pointed at Sokka's chest. As she did that, something clicked in Nathan's head. That voice. Her voice. He knew her...

"I've seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious and let me guess, you're travelling with the Avatar..."  
Sokka narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"_Do I know you?_" he asked warily.

"You mean you don't remember?! Maybe you'll remember this-" and she kissed him.

"Suki!" Sokka lost it and hugged her.

"It's so good to see you!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

In the end, the Gaang flew the two refugees to Ba Sing Se and Nathan stayed behind. He would depart later, but now he needed to get his sword reforged. That was only a art of it. The truth was, he wasn't keen on meeting the princess of the Fire Nation again inside of the drill. No, he would keep his distance and help some people on the way. Oh if he only knew.

He travelled south for a week, until he walked into a group of refugees. They were more than happy to pay him to keep them safe while they trekked across the warzone. The group was quite small, and they were friendly as well. They welcomed him by the campfire the first evening. They were the kind of people you'd find on road these days. People whose homes were destroyed, ones who ran before the Fire Arm reached them. Overall people desperate for safe haven. Except for one. A pale boy, not even twelve years old. His name was Minho. A Fire Nation name. The boy claimed he was searching for his older brother. Nathan cringed when the boy told him. Minho was naive. If he wasn't so lucky he would be long dead. Minho said his brother would be in Ba Sing Se, that he would wait for him. And so, Nathan promised to protect him.

Minho, of course, was a part of the group no matter his origin. He was no bender so he could easily claim to hail from colonies. Which wasn't the case. Nathan did ask him questions, and he got answers. The boy used to live in the FN capital, and with help of a friend he ran away and after his older brother.

But Nathan was in for a ride. Only a few days away from Ba Sing Se they were when it happened.

OoOoOoOoOoO

It was late afternoon and the group led by Nathan, who was now dubbed by the common people as the Jade Tiger or the Tiger for short, spotted three women in kyoshi warrior's outfit further on the road. The women waited for them to reach them. Nathan jumped down from his mount and walked to meet them.

"What are the Sukis doing this far from Ba Sing Se?" he asked after exchanging greetings.

"The Sukis?" asked one of them. This one was cute, with big grey eyes and brown hair in a long braid.

"...Kyoshi warriors..."

"Oh, right!" she cheered, and then stopped in her tracks as she turned to the one in the middle. This was probably their makeshift leader.

"We were ambushed and separated from the rest." The leader said .

OoOoOoOoOoO

With Ty Lee:

"We were ambushed and separated from the rest." Azula said. The princess was a natural liar.

"We will joi-" Azula was about to demand them to accompany the girls for additional cover, and consequently ruin her chances with the leader of the refugee group, but Ty Lee intervened.

"Can we join you on the way to Ba Sing Se? Please?" Ty Lee made puppy eyes. It always works. And it did. The boy blushed slightly before he replied.

"Well, sure. I owe your boss a favor anyway."

**Aaaand cut! I hope you do like this chapter too. And we finally reached the point I envisioned from the very beginning… The next chapter will be awesome! You can look forward to Nathan talking to Ty Lee, Azula and maybe even Mai... Any suggestions for what should happen, any dialogue topics you'd like them to come across - just tell me guys, and I'll include it!**

**Are you curious who is Minho? Do you want to know more about a character you like? Or do you want me to write a POV chapter for a character you like? Tell me in your messages and I'll see what I can do!**


	20. Chapter 19: Who Are We

Chapter 19: Who Are We

Azula, Mai and Ty Lee have been through some serious shit ever since they started chasing Team Avatar. Azula was supposed to arrest her weakling of a brother and loser uncle, and bring them to stand trial before the Fire Lord. She would have managed if not for Iroh's caution. Then she was approached by an officer, Shang was his name, and he claimed his men were slaughtered by one single enemy swordsman. She told him off, of course. She wouldn't stand for the weak. No, she was the prodigy, the undisputed most powerful firebender of her generation, and as such she wouldn't fight for some loser who ran away from his own men when things went south. Then Azula got together her small team, which consisted only of the three girls themselves, and went to chase Zuko and the Avatar alike.

Azula faced the Avatar once, in the New Ozai, and she had the upper hand the whole time. In the end her target managed to escape, that much was true, but Azula and her allies were still stronger by a long way. The next time she caught up to them was more of a stretch for the princess. She went after the furry trail and her companions went the other way, the one their target probably went. Azula found the young boy in a ghost town. Zuko showed up. That, however, wasn't what gave her run for her money, no, it was the other guy who evidently joined the Avatar who not only kept up with her, but even got the better of her with his unorthodox techniques. He moved and fought like no other man or woman she ever faced before. So obviously, she was down. Azula was in a foul mood once she reunited with her childhood friends, and guess what was the first question she was asked? It was nothing among the lines of "Are you okay Azula?" or "What happened?", but once Azula told them there was a new addition to their enemies' ranks Ty Lee asked if he was cute.

If HE was cute!

Then they talked, and Ty Lee said something about how the waterbender girl said how she didn't get why someone asked about them. And Azula, on the inside, nearly broke in tears, after realisation that she was beaten by a mere Earth Kingdom peasant. On the outside she remained silent and stoic for the rest of the night while Ty Lee proceeded to chat with Mai, more like talk all the time while Mai fought to stay awake.

They resumed their hunt with the sunrise, and they never spoke of Azula's loss again. That didn't mean the issue left their minds. No, Ty Lee would express her desire to meet the man as soon as Azula was out of sight, and Azula would be making up plans for potential fights in the future. She would not sit and cry because of her defeat, instead she would fight to best the one individual who proved to be on par with her. The only person who really didn't give a fuck was Mai, who even though surprised by the prospect of someone capable of defeating Azula in direct combat wasn't really interested. Mai would more often sit alone and think of Zuko. Azula said he was there too, and Mai wondered if he too joined the Avatar. Not that she could blame him with what had Ozai done to him.

But they were in for another surprise, since not even two days after the fight a stranger found his way into their small camp. The girls hid in the shadows and ambushed him. Turned out he was a firebender. He was about their age, a little older maybe, and he bore the signature Fire Nation traits - pale skin, black hair and golden eyes. Well, eye. The other one was pale, and obviously blind, all because of a wound that scarred his face from the left brow all the way to his chin. He was still kind of handsome, as Ty Lee didn't forget to remark as they later sat around one campfire. The man laughed at the acrobat's words, and retorted with a not so subtle hint of angst that it didn't matter anyway. He introduced himself as Onyx, the infamous assassin who had on his score list many names of Fire Lord's political enemies. This revelation seemed to grip Azula's attention. The princess had some sort of respect for the assassin's reputation, even though she never met him in person. But when the trio tried to pry into his past, Onyx gave them a glare that dared them to go on if they wanted to suffer.

So they stopped and went to sleep. It was not a peaceful night for the princess and the assassin though. The former couldn't sleep and the latter woke up several times during the night because of the nightmares that plagued him.

The next morning they parted ways, Onyx making up an excuse about tracking someone to settle the scores with, and the girls resumed their own hunt. All these intrusions made their part in keeping Azula's mind off the fight, and as a result she stopped brooding and instead trained hard whenever the trio stopped.

And then the girls were approached by a platoon of FN soldiers, who formally invited the princess to join the siege of Ba Sing Se, which they would, quote "Absolutely win now that they had the weapon."

Turned out the weapon was a huge drill thing on wheels that, according to the war minister, would easily breach the wall and Fire army troops would then flood the lower ring of Ba Sing Se. The three girls somewhat took command of the drill, and despite the Ba Sing Se troops trying to slow them down the drill reached the wall. And then came the problems. Someone took out one of the drill's maintenance crewmen. The girls went to investigate, and found none other than the Avatar and the watertribes. Luckily it was three on three, and Azula decided to pursue the Avatar on the top of the drill while Mai and Ty Lee went after the siblings. That day, Azula lost. Again. She was getting frustrated that the airbending goofy kid caught up with her in terms of skill.

The drill fight also raised some questions, such as where were the two remaining members of team Avatar. The girls didn't know. Noone did, really. And that was when they met Onyx for the second time.

OoOoOoOoOoO

It was another beautiful sunny day in the Earth Kingdom and the three girls were camping, again, trying to come up with the means to get inside Ba Sing Se. They were discussing the option of going by the ferries in the Full-moon Bay when he appeared.

"...I don't think that would do. Ba Sing Se is well known for their bureaucracy, and we don't have the means to forge the necessary documents, do we?" Azula thought aloud as Mai played with her knives.

"Nope. But we could borrow some?" Ty Lee suggested cheerfully. Azula snickered. Ty Lee did act all bubbly and cheerful, talked about auras and stuff that made no sense at all, but under all that bullshit was a briliant creative mind. At least that's what Azula believed. If she didn't she wouldn't have had Ty Lee join them.

"Yes." Azula's lips formed a wicked smile "That certainly is an option. That said, I don't feel like atracting unnecessary attention by attacking refugees. They don't even have to posess the passports."

"So this one is a no go, too?" asked the sleepy-attitude Mai. This was already a third? Fourth? option they discarded because of it's downsides. They dismissed climbing the walls as well as getting captured, which would leave them unable to leave the cells 'cause earthbenders.  
"And that would leave us with using a disguise." Azula concluded, earning a glare from Mai.

"Don't." was the response Azula received from Mai, but it wasn't the only one.

"Do it. It should do the trick if you can act the part." A familiar voice responded from behind Azula. The princess turned with a smirk to see the scarred, half-blind assassin standing behind them.

"How long did you just stand there?" Mai questioned a bit less not-giving-a-fuck-ly than usual.

"Ever since the 'no go' comment. Anyway, you cannot go there in peasant clothes, they'd dismiss you right off the bat." Onyx advised, and waited for them to catch on. Which they did quickly.

"So we need to get some military gear, right?" Ty Lee stated, and Onyx nodded in agreement.

"That's right, bu-"

"But they cannot be locals, or else it would be suspicious. We need some foreign, yet well known forces." Azula interrupted excitedly. She was plotting, which was something she was always the very best in. "That leaves us with the watertribe, New Ozai, Kyoshi and others."

"I've spotted a dozen Kyoshi warriors just a few days away from here." Onyx supplied the essential information, exchanged wishes of good luck and then left. The Fire Nation had a new objective.

OoOoOoOoOoO

It didn't take them long to locate the small squadron of female warriors in green. The Kyoshi didn't even bother with fortifications of their small temporary camp, nor with camouflaging it properly. The majority of the green clad women were gathering berries or setting up hunting traps, displaying little caution, or more like the lack of it. That left them out in the open and prone to surprise attacks, which was exactly what Azula, Mai and Ty Lee were planning to do.

The trio waited and observed the Kyoshi for about an hour and half, which was just enough time for them to notice the pattern by which the warriors worked. That was enough for Azula to come up with a makeshift plan of attack. With that the girls assumed their positions and attacked.

The fight itself didn't last long. The Kyoshi while competent fighters were still just nonbenders, and the trio of ambushers had way more experience and training to back them up. In the end the Kyoshi were tied up on the ground and Azula proceeded to strip them off their gear, one by one while Ty Lee was examining the makeup of the Kyoshi Leader.

"Hmmm... are you absolutely sure they're not a circus?" Ty Lee asked thoughtfully.

"We're not a circus!" the main Kyoshi spat.

Twenty minutes later the three of them were in their new outfits. Azula was confident in their disguises, and if it came to some more direct confrontation... Not that she'd lose, no, but it would be better to ensure their safe and secret journey. Which led to a new idea forming in her mind...

"Mai, Ty Lee! Come here!" Azula commanded, and the two girls in question joined her.

"We'll need one more thing to make this plan foolproof, and that is a caravan of refugees." her companions eyed her, unable to understand her reasoning for a group of refugees. So she explained. "If we're to arrive as a guard to their fellow citizen, they won't suspect a thing."

The girls nodded. Yes, that would definitely do.

OoOoOoOoOoO

And that particular decision led to the trio searching for a refugee party to bring to the city. They had to go further south, and eventually they found what they were looking for. It was Mai who spotted the small group of two dozen unguarded refugees with two caravans nearly half a mile far heading their way.

"This is just perfect" Azula smiled "So, to make some rules. One, no talking about the Fire Nation or the circus-" she shot a glare at Ty Lee " -and definitely no titles. We will go by names, and they need to sound Earth Kingdom, so you better choose a good one. Two - we cannot afford to befriend them-" another glare at Ty Lee, who was smiling innocently "-they are but tools for us. And Three. If we, by any chance, meet the Avatar we need to act as if we were their allies, nothing more and nothing less. For this option, I need you Ty Lee to take care of the talking. I can't risk them recognising us for who we are. If that happens and they don't keep their guard up, we'll kidnap the kid and run for the Fire Nation."

The caravan finally reached them and stopped. A man Zuko's age jumped down from his mount and walked to meet them. Ty Lee couldn't deny the effect he had on her. He was tall, broad-shouldered and muscular, though it was obvious that his build was a lean one. His dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail of sort, obviously in order for his hair not to hinder his vision in combat. Yes, combat, as it was easy to see that he experienced his fair share of it through the way he moved and the few small, barely visible cut scars on his arms. There were probably more of them, but those weren't visible thanks to his clothes.

Azula observed the man as he walked to them, and she noticed the same things Ty Lee did. The difference was that while Ty Lee would openly admit it, Azula never would. The princess undercover greeted the likely leader of the group, and introduced them to him. Azula called herself Yashin, Ty Lee went with Tara and Mai chose to be called Rin.

"What are the Sukis doing this far from Ba Sing Se?" The man who introduced himself as Nagato asked.

"The Sukis?" asked Ty Lee, puzzled by the 'Sukis' remark. Like, what are Sukis. Or was it Sukies?

"...Kyoshi warriors..." he gave them a deadpan look.

"Oh, right!" she cheered, and then stopped in her tracks as she turned to Azula. It would be better to let her talk as the princess knew how to handle these situations.

"We were ambushed and separated from the rest." Azula explained, and the lie seemed to do the trick. "And as such, we need to rejoin with the rest in Ba Sing Se."

"We will joi-" Azula was about to demand them to accompany the girls using her authority over the refugees and Nagato personally, and not only piss Nagato off - he wasn't a part of EK military - but also ruin her chances to get to know him, so Ty Lee intervened.

"Can we join you on the way to Ba Sing Se? Please?" Ty Lee made puppy eyes. It always works. And it did. The fighter blushed slightly before he replied.

"Well, sure. I owe your boss a favor anyway."

OoOoOoOoOoO

They rode back north now, Azula and Nathan both in the same group and both unaware of each other's identity. As ironic as it was, it currently meant shit. The girls were keeping a low profile and didn't really talk to anyone for the rest of the day. Nathan, as per usual, rode alongside the caravan in which was the Minho kid and several of his new temporary friends, which included a storyteller, a singer, two hunters and a blacksmith. Even though Nathan didn't really care about singing, the singer insisted that everybody takes part in the daily share of music so it wouldn't get too old too quickly. So in the end, that means after everyone else capable of singing and/or playing was done (aside from the new girls) it came to Nathan to do his part. That he refused, saying they could wait until dawn, when his horrible voice had some effect other than people laughing, such as quote _"to scare the shit out of you!"_  
And so they set up their camp in the evening, the refugees went mostly to bed - caravans in their cases - and the three false Kyoshi set up their tents just outside their main campsite. The group of friends gathered around the small fire and brought with themselves some dried meat and water. The singer even brought some wine, and that was something you don't see everyday.

OoOoOoOoOoO  
_"What's wrong with you- I'M BLIND!" Toph screams in distance, realising she had only a dream..._  
OoOoOoOoOoO

Fast forward an hour our Fiery trio was lying on their bedrolls outside their tents, just looking at the sky, counting stars and listening to the men around the fire. Azula was originally all about discussing their future moves in the city of Ba Sing Se, but once they lied down they dropped the subject. There would be enough time for that later. And so the princess, an acrobat and a noble were enjoying their company when a sad, slow tune reached their senses. The music was there all the night, but this time it was different. It felt slower, sadder and almost tragic, and there were no words to it, making the sadness of the song only more apparent...

**And cut! Here you go with what led to this fateful unaware meeting. How do you feel about it? There is this issue I encountered, that if I made the whole time they spend together into one chapter it would be long as fuck, so I divided it in two. All the questions from the previous chapter are still on so don't hesitate to tell me! **

**Also tell me if you think anyone is OOC, I hope they aren't but... I'm certainly not perfect when it comes to writing nonsarcastic conversations - I'm pretty bad actually.**

**As always, all suggestions are welcome and your opinion too, so write me guys!**

**Thanks again and until next time,**

**Khai**


	21. Chapter 20: Naga-tara - is it happening?

Chapter 20: Skateboards

The next morning was something entirely new for the three Fire Nation girls. While they were slowly getting used to camping out in the open they had no experience travelling with more people. Ty Lee observed the organized chaos as they packed their things . They had no real rules on who did what, but somehow they had no problem efficiently packing the whole campsite. Soon all the tents disappeared and the group was on it's way again. The girls were given their own ostrich-horses, and now they rode as the last of the group.

"So, now that we're on our way to Ba Sing Se we can learn about the Earth Kingdom from them!" Ty Lee offered. She was excited to meet people who were not Fire Nation and get to know them, especially the guy called Nagato. She always found more fun in being around interesting people, and that Nagato looked like beast. Ty Lee reallly wanted to get to know him. Fuck what Azula says, just this once at least.

"No thanks. I'll pass." Mai countered, sounding as bored as ever. Seriously, that girl ought to brighten up a little from time to time. Her aura was dull and gray and not pink at all, and it was like that ever since they were on the mission, with the occasional spark of red or yellow when they spoke about Zuko, and purple when they fought. Ty Lee would gladly cheer up her frowning friend, if only she knew how.

"That's right Mai." Azula added "We cannot afford to rise suspicion. We need to get to the city as quickly as we can, without them figuring us out."

Azula's aura was black and red, just like fire and smoke. It signaled her anger and passion, but with more negativity came more black smoke aura, and Azula's was almost all black for the last few weeks. Thankfully it was getting better each and every day, but yeah, Azula still was angry and brooding. Mostly brooding, but determined to win next time.

"Aaaazuuulaaaa!" Ty Lee complained "I just wanted to-"

"Get close to that guy, I know that."

"He has a name, you know!" Ty Lee pouted before picking some speed. Ty Lee headed off to the front of their group and Azula was left with Mai in the rear. The two girls rode in silence for a few precious moments before Mai asked a question that was in her mind ever since they got their mounts. The frowny girl looked at the princess and awkwardly broke the silence.

"So... wanna play catch a knife?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

Ty Lee rode forward and easily caught up to the main body of the travelling group, which consisted of almost everyone except for Nagato and the two hunters. Ty Lee was busy looking around to find the three of them, and so she was completely unaware of the singer who approached her.

"Hey Tara, you finally decided to join us?" the singer smiled at her, his eyes looking somewhere else then Ty Lee's eyes.

"Eh, yes. How is the ride?" Ty Lee asked politely and gave him a smile.

"Well, it's just the usual. Nagato is with the brothers in front as the scouts and guards, and the rest of us is just here. I'd usually play something, but I ran out of ideas." The singer explained, his eyes watching the road now. "And there is also Nagato's song from yesterday. I've tried to figure it out, and after an hour or so all the people are kinda pissed. So yeah, that's about it."

And there is the one sole reason for the silence. He made all of them angry by messing up a song over and over and over fucking again. Ty Lee was content with the information she was given, but one thing didn't add up.

"Did you say the three of them are guarding the caravan?" Ty Lee was truly puzzled here. Three men is nowhere enough for the entire caravan, as Azula would surely point out when she would tell her.

"Yeah, they are. That's what I said. It would be rather unfortunate if we were left unguarded. The Fire Army would kill us all and take whatever we have on us, as they did before."

"Only the three of them are guarding us?" Ty Lee gave him 'the look'.

"Well, yeah. I mean sure, it isn't the best situation ever, but hey, the brothers are good with their bows and Nagato is, well, deadly." the singer explained as if it was obvious, and Ty Lee fell silent. They had only three guards and they were confudent in their safety. This wasn't the only thing that made her beautiful smile turn into a frown. It was what the man said about the Fire Army. Did they really kill people for no reason? She shuddered at the thought. No, they wouldn't. The Fire Nation just tried to help and improve the world under their rule, Ty Lee thought. She wasn't so sure about it now though.

"Want me to show you the song?"

"No, not really."

And the singer took his guitar and started playing what was degradation of a beautiful song. He defiled it. Uggghhhh. Ty Lee once again made her mount speed up, and successfully she ran away from the horrible degradation of a song. And she promptly ran into Nagato and the hunters and into their kind of comical discussion.

"Hey Allan." Nagato called out "Are you a cow?"

A hunter, Alan most likely, replied "What? NO!"

"Yah, me neither." Said the other hunter with a cow skin cape covering most of his figure "You guys wanna go skateboards?"

"Uhhh sorry guys but what's goi-"

"Hey babe yah I'm a real man you wanna go skateboards?"

"Skateboards?" Ty Lee asked, totally out of ideas on what was going on. Nagato and Alan burst out laughing "What are those?"

"Ignore that, he stole some cactus juice for himself..." Nagato grinned while the real man who wanna go skateboards went "Meow, meow I'm a cow, I said meow-meow ima a cow!"

Cows didn't go meow, that was for sure. And Ty Lee giggled. It was so not like anything she knew, maybe for the circus parties. Ty Lee loved tose, and these three laughing teens reminded her of it. They were much funnier than Azula and Mai. So much in fact that she considered staying with them, but she quickly dismissed the thought. Who knows what would they do if they found out she was from the Fire Nation.

"...yeah, he's an idiot even without the cactus. I really hope it wears off soon, wouldn't want to look after him again..." the other hunter groaned at his brother's antics.

"Again? This happened before?" Ty Lee was curious now.

"Yeah, two times already. Every time he sips just a little and then he's out of it for a few hours or so. He doesn't remember it though, so every single time he goes to give it a try..." Nagato explained in an amused voice. This was a running gag for them, Ty Lee deduced.

"Tara, right?" Ty Lee was torn out of thoughts by the voice of Nagato.

"Yes?" Ty Lee excitedly perked up.

"We'll be stopping soon, a few miles this way is a clearing with a waterfall." The leader announced matter-of-factly. Ty Lee was excited at the prospect of a stop for several reasons. One was that she was starting to be a little hungry - it was long past noon by then - and the second was the prospect of water to swim in. A waterfall just by the camp? Perfect! Just! Perfect! "Tell the others, and take Joey the cow with you please."

"Skateboards..." the real man who is not a cow said and Ty Lee laughed.

"Alright." She said and raised a finger "But!"

"What is it Tara?"

"We'll go swimming together." Ty Lee did her puppy eyes again. She wanted to go swimming, badly, and if she had him swim too it was even better. Remember how Azula said something about not flirting with anyone? - Ty Lee thought - Fuck that.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Azula felt bored as Mai, and that meant something. The princess would usually occupy herself with plotting something or making up a new technique to try out, but today she was just bored and didn't feel like anything since her talk with Ty Lee. The game Mai suggested wasn't really that much fun and so the two of them rode in silence once again. That is until they decided to learn all there was to learn about their companions without actually talking to them. So the two girls split up, Mai riding along the caravans and Azula riding forward to find out where has Ty Lee gone to. Soon enough she found her bubbly friend. Ty Lee was returning from the front, that was apparent, but she was also leading one of the hunters back.

...did the hunter say he was a sheep just now?

Anyway, here she comes.

"Tara! I was looking for you. Where did you come from just now?" Azula addressed Ty with the false name. It didn't sound right. Then again, they were surrounded by EK refugees, and so it wouldn't do for them to use their real names.

"I was with Nagato at the front!" Ty Lee chirped

"Why am I not surprised. So, who is this man?" Azula questioned her friend.

"Beep-beep Ima sheep..."

"He is a sheep!" Ty Lee laughed, but eventually she answered "Well, this is Joey, and he is high on cactus juice."

Then Ty Lee started smiling seemingly for no reason. She was always gleeful and bubbly, but she didn't act like this ever since... since ever. Azula was clearly missing some information concerning her friend, and it irritated her to no end. What made Ty Lee so cheerful in the first place? Really now, Ty Lee was happy almost always, but even then she usually had a reason no matter how small it was.

"So, ehm, Tara. What happened? Tell me details." Azula purred and the acrobat happily told her.

"We'll be stopping soon, and there is a pond and a waterfall we can swim in, and..."

"And?" Azula urged.

"I'm going to swim with Nagato." Alright, Ty Lee was blushing and looking away at this point. That was wrong, really really wrong. Azula emphasized they shouldn't get involved and here was Ty Lee, head over heels about a man who was technically an enemy. And so Azula did the only thing she could think of, and pointed out one very mistake Ty Lee didn't realize she did.

"We have no swimwear, you know that right?" the princess pointed out "And you'll have to take off your make-up."

"I know you said we shouldn't befriend them too much but I really like- wait, what? You're not angry?" Ty Lee blinked in surprise.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. You did promise. It won't do to back out of it now, will it?" Azula conceded. It was definitely not like she wanted to see the man in question shirtless. No, nothing like that. It was more of being practical at this point. If Ty Lee backed out now, it would pose a risk of exposing them as imposters. Yes, that's right. And that they can not risk, Azula admitted. Still it was not like Azula was going to let this blatant disobedience go, but she had her hands tied at the moment, so punishment would have to wait.

"So I can go? Thanks!" And Azula was promptly rid of any air in her lungs because of the grateful acrobat hugging her way too tightly "Maybe you and Rin could join?"

"No, I definitely couldn't." the grumpy teen appeared right next to the two of them. Mai was back, which meant she was done with observing the group and came with all the intel possible.

"I'm not keen on swimming." Azula said "but I'll go with you. A little water to help with all the heat is always welcome. That said, what do you plan to do about the swimsuits, Tara?"

And poor Ty Lee went red again. "Well, um... maybe..." she muttered.

"Maybe what? I cannot hear you."

"...maybe we could... swim without it..."

"Yeah, and you think that Nagato would just watch, right? He's a savageous peasant who didn't probably see a woman in his life. What do you think he's gonna do if you go in naked?" Azula snapped at the chi-blocker, who cowered a little under her gaze.

"Speaking of which, it appears that he is the only guard to this entire group." Mai reported and stopped the argument before it went too far. The girls looked at her in bewilderment.

"He is the only guard for the entire caravan, is that what you said?" Azula asked.

"Yes, that's exactly what I said." Mai retorted, her voice as dead as ever.

"In that case, I want to see what he's got." Azula smiled in her characteristic menacing way.

OoOoOoOoOoO

They arrived at the clearing exactly as Nagato said. The clearing was a bright, green place untouched by human hand. It was surrounded by tall, ancient trees form all directions except for one. On that side was a huge rock with a beautiful waterfall that ended in a pond tens of feet wide and full of clean, pristine water. They built their tents by the pond and set up three fireplaces and one bigger one in the center of their new camp. Then the refugees split up to do their respective jobs, some went to collect firewood, others to collect berries or cook some food from their supplies of dried meat and some spices.

Mai was as bored as ever, spinning one of her knives on a finger, Ty Lee was stretching and Azula... Azula watched as Nagato, the hunters and a little boy went further from the camp. The boy sat down at some little distance as the three of them proceeded to warm up. It came to the princess very quickly. They were going to train their katas, and Azula was curious what would Nagato as the clearly superior one teach them. Once again she was surprised.

It was no kata, it was a sparring session, two on one with no weapons. Azula watched in bewilderment as the hunters circled Nagato as if he was prey of theirs. Hunter one lunged for Nagato's head. Nagato only fell in a low stance, and punched hunter one in the guts. Nagato immediately leaned back as a kick came from hunter two, followed by two more kicks. One was blocked by Nagato, the second was caught and hunter two was promptly lifted and thrown to the ground. Hunter one came again and Azula watched silently as the two men had their asses handed to them by Nagato numerous times in matter of seconds in a similar manner. Azula was now sure. Nagato was a prodigy when it came to combat, but he was still a nonbender. Still, what a waste for him to fight for Earth Kingdom.

There and then Azula decided. She would have him join the Fire Nation. That, or dead since he was a threat if not converted.

"Well, what do you think?" Ty Lee appeared beside Azula. The princess didn't respond as she watched Nagato literally throwing the hunters around and beating them with two to three hits.

"...he's... an alright fighter, I guess." Azula said after a while.

"He's okay? Azula, come on, you have to say it! Say I have a good taste!" Ty Lee giggled.

"Alright. He is good, but he is no bender, and therefore he is inferior to anyone with bendidng ability. Even though I guess he could take on Zuzu." Azula laughed herself. Ty Lee was so endearing and Azula found it enjoyable to humour her from time to time.

"But he's so cute!" Ty Lee pressed. Azula sighed.

"Don't push it Tara." She warned jokingly. The men stopped the training and went back to the camp, all of them except for Nagato, who left for who knows where.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Ty Lee was bored. She had already practiced her acrobatics and her chi-blocking moves, she talked with the girls about Nagato among other things, such as their plans for Ba Sing Se or the still standing issue of Zuko. Ty Lee took note of Azula's interest in Nagato. It was there, even if the princess didn't or refused to see it. Azula told them about the plan of making him join them, which was unusual for the princess to do. So far she didn't consider anyone from outside Fire Nation worthy of an offer to join, much less to actually do so. Imagine the girls' surprise when Azula explained her reasons. Nagato was, according to her, an accomplished warrior and seemed to be an honorable man. So if they manage to honor-bind him into joining them, he would have no other option. Sure, it was the same risk with Zuko. The exile was through way too much shit and he remained loyal despite most of it being caused by his father personally. He was far beyond repair of any sort and, according to some it was only a matter of time before he snaps and changes sides. Those were the rumors going around the Fire Nation for several years now, and as far as the girls knew Zuko remained loyal.

Still they would need to take their time to learn more about him, and that's what Ty Lee would do.

It was almost evening and Ty Lee was walking through the camp. She was searching for Nagato who was nowhere to find. Ty Lee found it harder to keep her optimism seeing how Nagato refused to show up. Does he not like me, Ty Lee asked herself. Did I do something?  
As the girl in thoughts arrived at the edge of a camp, and quickly she found herself surrounded by children. The kids' reactions to her arrival varied from an excited squeal to a frown.

"Hello miss painting lady." said a little girl, not older than five years.

"Oh, hello to you too." Ty Lee smiled at the girl. Painting lady was a somewhat fitting way to describe a Kyoshi warrior. "My name is Tara, and yours?"

"It's Lin." the girl in question grinned before asking "Can I help you?"

"Well, actually you can. Have you seen Nagato?"

"Well, that depends..." Lin the little girl smiled slyly "I might as well seen your boyfriend, but you'll have to teach us some of those tricks of yours."

"My boyfriend-oh... Oh. Alright." And so the blushing teen went on to show off her cartwheels and flips.

The kids were hyper, that was for sure. They were running around for the most part, shouting and laughing. They did, however, pay attention solely to Ty Lee when she cartwheeled around or when she stood on her hands. The children cheered in awe as Ty Lee walked upside down effortlessly. The little girl and a few others actually tried to do a cartwheel, but none of them succeeded much to their chargin. The best they managed was a handstand. Still they had a lot of fun, and Ty Lee nearly forgot about the swimming she was planning to do. She remembered only after a long while, and so she excused herself and asked Lin to uphold her part of the deal.

"I don't know where he is." the little girl smiled innocently "you might have better luck asking the other painting ladies. The one not frowing gave him some rather... interesting looks."

Ty Lee thanked her and left, unsure how such a young girl could even notice such things. Then again, Ty Lee grew up with Azula so she shouldn't be that surprised. As she left she heard a woman berate Lin for being mean to adults.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Ty Lee eventually gave up her search for Nagato, changed into clothing that resembled a swimsuit, undid her hairdo and let her long hair loose. She also got rid of the make-up for now, since it would only get in the way. As Ty Lee reached the pond, she passed the waterfall and she heard... something. The acrobat stopped in her tracks and listened. It was music, foreign, aggressive tribal-sounding music. It was coming from behind the waterfall. The music had her curious, and so Ty Lee walked through the curtain of water into a cave.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Nathan:

I was excited about the prospect of stopping here for a number of reasons, but the main one was this hidden cave. It offered all the comfort an earthbender could make and all the privacy I so much miss when travelling with the refugees. I've treaded this route once before with a different group. How did I find this place? I stumbled upon it by accident when swimming in the pool by the waterfall. It was during the night and thanks to that I'd noticed the green glow of the crystals from inside the cave. When I made my way inside I found myself in a small pool of pure water that seemed to magically glow. Upon getting a closer look I'd found out the floor was littered with small glowing green crystals. The place resembled the spirit pool in the North Pole, just without the fish and the grass. Just rock, water and the crystals. It was beautiful.

And so I made it my own sanctuary. With help of my bending I raised some pillars to serve either as visuals or as a substitute for a punching bag, I earthbent some equipment for working out.

That was what I was doing right now inside my secret dojo. I was beating the shit out of a huge chunk of rock using only my fists and legs. My phone laid put on a small table-rock and was currently playing a training playlist from times before all this crazy otherworldly shit. The current song was Bullet to the Brain by 2Pac, one of my favorites. It sounded like it was made for combat training. I loved to train with music on the highest volume possible, and didn't really think that it could attract attention, not from here anyway.

I was wrong, as I found out when the next song started playing. I sat down by the pool to relax for a moment and as I did so I've seen something. With the change of track arrived a girl I didn't recognize. She was gorgeous. First off - her boobs - I mean eyes. Both, actually. Damn. She had long brown hair that almost reached her hips. Her eyes were gray and deep. And she was wearing only her underwear... oh, wait. It was a swimsuit. As I was looking at her current clothing my eyes obviously decided to wander off somewhere else... Like her waist and hips. I felt heat raising to my cheeks. Bad eyes, now I was probably blushing. Couldn't blame them though, the sight before me was, well, very pleasant.

"Um... hello." the girl said and took me out of my thoughts, which were by the way becoming more and more perverse by every moment.

"Hey, nice seeing you there." I said and she blushed "first off, do I know you?"

I really couldn't place her, and that was weird as she had looks like these. I've tried to recall where I met her, only to find nothing but a vague feeling of familiarity. That was bad, and I probably shouldn't have said that. Yeah, I really shouldn't have said that. Now she was looking down on her feet in shock mixed with sadness.

"You don't recognize me?" she asked as she tried to keep herself from crying, or so it seemed. "That's just.. rude, Nagato. Did I do something to you?"

'Oh... Oh fuck. Now I know why she seems so familiar, it's Tara. You know, the Suki who wanted to go swimming with you. The cheerful one.' Oh, thank you brain. Fucking thank you. Now you do your work. Wow. Just wow. I hated myself for not recognizing her now. Shit. She looks really sad. Do something! And do it now! But what am I supposed to do to calm her down? It isn't like I am a psychologist now, is it? Psychologist. Yeah, those fuckers talk all the time! That's it! Just talk to her! Say something, apologize or whatever. And no, I'm not panicking you're panicking!

"I'm sorry Tara, don't cry! No, sorry. Look at me." I blurted in matter of seconds. Now I had her attention. Now just not mess it up. "Look, I just didn't recognize you without all that make-up. Like, I'm sorry. It's just a bit of a shock when a gorgeous girl just walks out of nowhere."

And there we go again, she's blushing. Tara's tears disappeared, and they were replaced by a shy smile. "It is?"

"Of course it is." I grinned at her "I was in the middle of training when you showed up."

Tara opened her mouth, only to close it without saying anything. We stood there, both of us in questionable clothing, both looking at each other and both beginning to feel embarrassed.

**So, here we go again. Sorry for the wait, I've encountered some complications when writing this chapter. Namely the whole thing being deleted by m oh-so-messy-computer. Number two would be the fact that even this si but a portion of what I originally wanted to post. So, the plot is divided into two, maybe three chapters. Again, tell me what you think!**

**Also, a quick questions. Do you want Nathan to go and date 'Tara'? Another question is: Do ya want de lemons? If so, then do you want them now or are you willing to wait around… four? Five? chapters?**

**Thanks again,**

**Khai**


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